Helljumpers: A New Hell
by DelVarO
Summary: A simple mission goes wrong, as a squad of ODST finds themselves in a place where everyone wants everyone else dead, and they seem to be on the first priority. Chapter 10 is up!
1. Three Weeks Of Hell

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the franchizes mentioned in this fanfic, though i do own my characters, who were created from my mind. All credit goes to the book writers and game creators.**

A/N: Hello there, this is my new fic! hope you will enjoy it, leave a review and have fun reading it! :) Also i would like to add a note: This fic does not have much to do with the AvP movie, its more connected to the books.

**Chapter one – Three Weeks Of Hell**

1940 Hours, February 28, 2563 (MILITARY CALENDAR) / Planet Venatio/ Jungle

Kyle jumped through another bush. He zigzagged through the trees and bushes, not allowing himself to be an easy target. He knew that one of those… things was following him.

Fuck, how the hell did I allow myself to lose them? He kept looking to the sides, hoping that he would spot someone of his team. He heard a roar above his labored breaths, coming from the elite, followed by another, one that he never heard before. He couldn't stop wondering if the elite could really somehow slow them down, but he suspected that he failed. As if on cue, the bushes in front Kyle moved and he stopped in his tracks, his MA5B raised. He was an ODST; he had to keep himself calm, in any situation.

Kyle held his breath, expecting to die any moment but the attack never came. He was sick of the anticipation and pulled the trigger. Bullets sprayed from the weapon, ripping bushes apart and pelting holes in the trees, but nothing reacted. His reflexes kicked in and not too late. Kyle leapt forward and just in time: Just as he jumped, a metallic spear missed him by a mere inch, and flew through a tree and eventually stopped at the ground, almost buried to its half. Kyle landed in a roll, and quickly came out of it, his assault rifle aimed at the direction the spear came from. He released another hail of bullets but yet again there was no indication he managed to hit his pursuer. He didn't waste time, he jumped to hit feet and sprinted away, taking care to place as much distance and obstacles between himself and the creature. He managed to cast a little glance behind him and his heart sank down.

The spear was gone.

He gritted his teeth and mustered all the strength he had and put on a burst of speed. He kept running, jumping over bushes and fallen logs and zigzagging through trees. He looked at the trees around him and he started to feel worried. All the trees and everything else around him was looking exactly the same and he felt as if he was already lost. He looked at his HUD, the small NAV marker was still there and he was at the right direction. Something exploded only a couple of feet from him, sending waves of heat and causing him to release a cry of surprise. His HUD was distorted by the EMP of the projectile. He quickly ran to the side and in the corner of his eye he saw another blue bolt of energy flying at him. This one hit the tree in front of him, but this time the bolt exploded, sending a small shockwave. Kyle passed right through the shockwave, his HUD blackened and he lost his footing, without vision. He stumbled down and felt himself hit something hard, probably a tree.

'Fuck, fuck, fuck!' he screamed in his mind. 'Get up Kyle; don't let that fucker catch you!'

The HUD turned back on and Kyle subdued his urge to scream in joy. He quickly got up to his feet, it was indeed a tree that stopped him, and looked to the place where the bolts came from. He narrowed his eyes and he saw something standing there: a shimmering air, probably higher then two meters. He felt that it was looking directly at him and that feel didn't make him feel better. Instead of waiting to see what would happen, and he knew exactly what, he sprinted away. This wasn't their battlefield. To fight here against those creatures was practically impossible. This was their jungle, and for them, they were intruders. He had to get to open ground; maybe there he could even the odds. His ears caught a loud sound, similar to a gunshot but he knew what it was and he saw it in action. He jumped behind a fallen tree and a moment later, three two feet long spikes were embedded into the wood. He took out his weapon and released another hail but a second later the rifle clicked and silenced.

He cursed under his breath and loaded a fresh clip. He heard two more shots coming from the alien weapon and a second later his cover shook and splinters flew into the air. Kyle didn't want to wait until his cover would break apart so he quickly stood up and ran on. The creature shot another round but Kyle was already far from the projectile. He ran as fast as he could, getting as far away as possible from his pursuer, sometimes sending glances, trying to spot the shimmering air again. He was looking to see the shimmering air and because of that, he didn't see the new pursuer getting into the fray.

The only warning he received was a sharp pain in his side and his feet left the ground. He collided into a tree and his breath was blasted away from his lungs and he suspected that he had a couple of broken ribs from the initial hit and he tasted copper in his mouth. He raised his gaze and saw what attacked him. It was black as space with a banana shaped head with rows of razor sharp teeth, small tube grew from its back, like pipes leading straight to hell, it two hands with claws and two legs with knife like talons and a long tail, ending with a long, slightly curved, dagger-like spike. But what gave it a more menacing look was the lack of eyes. One could never know if one of those bugs looked at him and Kyle didn't know if it had other means to see. To Kyle it looked like a breed between a bug and a lizard. The bug "looked" at him, releasing a silent hiss, long rows of saliva dripping from its mouth. Kyle knew how fast those beasts were and he didn't wasted any time, he raised his weapon and pulled the trigger. The bug moved fast, it charged Kyle but the bullets stopped him in his place. Armor piercing bullets pelted the bug, creating giant holes in its exoskeleton and tearing off one of its limbs. The bug toppled to the ground with a squeal and continued to move for a few moments, its blood and intestines spilling to the ground, starting to hiss and releasing smoke as it touched the ground, melting a hole in the ground.

That was another reason to keep those things at a large distance: instead of regular blood, they bled acid. Kyle stood up with a groan but before he could return to his running he heard another hiss.

He heart sank down even deeper into his chest. He slowly turned his head and he saw another bug looking at him and hissing. Kyle knew that he didn't have much chance to turn around in time, but he had to try. I'm not going to die here, you son of a bitch.

He turned around, his rifle already raised and ready and the bug jumped on him with a squeal.

Before he could pull the trigger, before he could do anything, a large blue bolt intercepted the bug in mid air and the bug was blasted away.

Kyle stopped and didn't dare to move. He slowly moved his head to the direction where the plasma bolt came from and he saw what he expected: The shimmering air. Kyle noticed something move on his chest and he looked down. Fear crept into him, real fear for his life. He saw three red dots, formed in a triangle move on his chest and eventually come to a stop, aimed at his heart. Kyle decided he won't stay here and allow the hunter to finish him, he broke into a run, wincing in pain with each step, and he realized that he did have at least one broken rib. He ran, ignoring the pain and trying to get himself as far away as he could. He knew that the hunter was still aiming at him and eventually he heard him shoot. Kyle glanced behind him, seeing the large plasma bolt flying at him. He waited a second and then he changed his direction. A small smile appeared on his face as he turned and he looked back and the smile faded faster then it appeared.

The plasma bolt turned after him.

He couldn't evade this one; he won't manage to overrun it either. He turned to face the attack and raised his left arm. He activated the wrist shield that he wore and a large energy shield appeared on his left hand. Kyle placed his hand in front of him and hoped that it would protect him. This wrist shield was human-made and it was much more powerful then the old covenant variant.

The plasma bolt impacted with his shield and Kyle stopped feeling his arm. When the bolt hit the shield it exploded, and exploded very hard. Kyle felt himself leave the ground and a very sharp pain in his hand. He flew a dozen feet and landed hard on the ground. He groaned and tried to get up but he couldn't, and he felt as if his left arm was stabbed with thousands of tiny knives. He looked at it and noticed the wrist shield. The grey gauntlet-like object was slightly burned and a thin line of smoke rose from it.

He coughed and tried to get up again but he couldn't. He wondered if he could break something when the bolt struck him but all lines of thought were interrupted as he heard heavy footsteps. He raised his head a little and he saw what came to him. It was the shimmering air, two and a half meters tall. He saw cloaking systems before and he knew that in the jungle it was very hard to spot one who used a cloaking generator. A clicking sound, resembling a growl, came from the cloaked creature and a small red light shone from its head and the three red dots appeared again on him. Kyle looked around himself, trying to see where his weapon was and he saw it, only five feet away from him. He tried to reach it but he knew that he won't reach it in time. The three dots eventually stopped at Kyle's head. Kyle looked at the creature and prepared to die. But before the creature could finish him off a scream, a human scream, interrupted him. A man in a marine uniform jump from the nearest bush, an M90 shotgun armed in his hands.

* * *

Cha'kun'da cursed under his breath when his spear missed his pray. Until now he was partially impressed, but also disappointed. This Ooman was a worthy pray but it did not meet his expectations. From when he was a suckling he was told that Oomans were dangerous and should be taken seriously but this one simply ran away from him and didn't fight back. Almost didn't fight back, he corrected himself when the Ooman released a hail of projectiles from his Burner and Cha'kun'da leapt to a branch, ten feet away from him, and silently landed on it. The Ooman didt saw it and it kept shooing at his last position for few more seconds and then it kept running further. The warrior jumped down and picked up his spear. The spear folded inside itself, becoming much smaller and compactable. Cha'kun'da slung his spear over his shoulder and drew his Burner, a small one-hand weapon, resembling the one the Ooman have.

The hunter jumped up to a branch above him and leaped to the next one, all the time following his pray with his eyes. He reached to a convenient spot and aimed his burner. The Ooman was fast, but not fast enough to escape. He reminded himself that his other 'eyes' could not find see him. Cha'kun'da hunted Oomans before but those who came here recently were different, they did not produce heat. His other 'eyes' could still see him but it would be best if he would not allow him to get too far away. His mandibles moved to form the yautja smile as he thought about the other Oomans. His skull would be a great addition to his trophy wall and he wanted to catch the other Oomans as well. Those Oomans entered a hive of the hard meat, and got out, no small feat. Even the bravest Yautja would think twice before entering into a hive and even fewer would get out of there unscathed. Their skulls would be a worthy trophy. This hunt would bring him more glory and his tale would be sung for centuries and the females… He planned to sire more then a hundred sucklings, to spread his bloodline and to create dozens of warriors like him. Females liked great warriors and he was going to be even greater. He was blooded only a few years ago but he accomplished many things and he was honored by many. The next thing he wanted was to become Leader, and for that he needed to hunt more.

He stopped his daydreaming. In order to accomplish nay of the things he thought about he would have to catch this Ooman first, before the others could escape. He fired his burner. The bolt of energy flew toward the Ooman but it missed him. He fired again, this time the bolt struck the tree right in front of the Ooman, who ran a few feet and the stumbled and fell down. Cha'kun'da looked at the Ooman and chuckled. He suspected –No, hoped- that the Ooman was still alive, and soon enough the small warrior rose to his feet and looked directly at him and continued running. The hunter looked at his burner, eight shots left. There were still more then enough Oomans on the planet and he needed to save every resource he had. He returned his burner to its place and drew his Spear-gun that was slung over his shoulder.

He jumped to the next branch and quickly aimed at his prey. Cha'kun'da pulled the trigger and the rifle shot three spikes. The Ooman though, heard the shot and jumped behind a fallen tree. Cha'kun'da cursed himself; the Ooman began to earn his respect. He saw the small warrior's burner come out from behind the cover and shoot. He chuckled; none of the bullets were even close to hitting him. He aimed at the Ooman's hand and released two shots, this time single spikes but the Ooman returned his hand behind cover. Cha'kun'da growled in frustration, this small warrior began to annoy him. If he hadn't moved his hand, the spikes would've impaled his hand to the tree, leaving him an easy target but the Ooman already started to run. The hunter released another shot but the Ooman easily avoided it.

He slung his weapon over his shoulder and followed. Cha'kun'da jumped from branch to branch, staying in the high ground where it was easy to follow his prey but the hunter noticed another thing that was following his prey: Hard meat and two of them.

The hard meat followed the Ooman, who obviously didn't notice it, and when it was close enough it pounced and tackled the Ooman at its side. Cha'kun'da knew that such an attack could be deadly, he saw many Yautja fall down from such an attack and few even die from it. This was his prey, his trophy. He would not allow a simple drone to take away what was his. The small Ooman warrior dispatched the first one but it did not see the second one, who approached him from behind. Cha'kun'da drew the Plasma caster, a small burner came out on his shoulder and he locked on the hard meat. The hunter opened fire just as the hard meat leaped. The plasma bolt zipped through the air and eventually stopped at the hard meat's torso. The bug's middle section exploded and it fell to the ground. He aimed now at the standing Ooman and charged the shot. An uncharged shot could kill an Ooman in a single shot but a charged one would end it quickly, and this Ooman deserved it. It was a good hunt but Cha'kun'da was tired from him and he had other to hunt. The small warrior stood there for a moment and as if it understood what was going to happen it ran. The shot was now fully charged and he released it. The bolt flew towards him and the human switched his direction and turned to the right, an understandable and expected maneuver, thought Cha'kun'da.

The Ooman stopped in his tracks when he saw that the bolt followed him. He was going to meet his death honorably without running away from it, the hunter thought but then, something unexpected happened. A shield of energy appeared on the Oomans left hand and he presented it to shield himself.

The bolt impacted with the shield with a small explosion. The shield failed and the Ooman was sent away from the blast. Chan'kun'da narrowed his eyes, the ancients were right, Oomans were more then they apparently were and full of surprises. He leapt to the next branch and from there he saw the small warrior, who was still moving. If not for the mask he wore, Cha'kun'da would've spat on the ground but still, this hunt was over. He jumped to the ground and approached the Ooman.

He was trying to get up but he couldn't. Cha'kun'da would finish this quickly. He aimed his plasma caster at the small warrior's head.

"It is over." Cha'kun'da said to the Ooman, though he doubted he could understand him. He was about to shoot but before he could do so, another Ooman holding a burner jumped through the bushes, screaming something Cha'kun'da couldn't understand, and fired the burner.

The most intense pain that Cha'kun'da had ever felt coursed through his stomach. He screamed in pain and then another one of the burner's projectiles hit him and then another one. Cha'kun'da grasped at his wounds without looking at them and when he raised his hand he saw that it was full of pale green blood, his own blood. He took some steps back and he felt himself lose his footing. He managed to look at his body before he fell down: three gaping holes full of blood, two in his stomach and one in his chest.

He cursed himself for being caught like this, by a cursed Ooman. He felt consciousness trying to leave him but he tried to hold it for as long as he could.

* * *

Three people moved through the bushes and trees.

Damian followed Ramirez and Akura to the place where the gunshots came from. They somehow managed to lose Kyle and now they had to find him. He shouldered his BR55 and prepared to be fighting for his life in any moment now, the last explosion was really close and he didn't want to be fighting before he needed to. C'mon Kyle, Where the fuck are you? Ramirez, the marine, took the front and Damian and Akura took the rear and covered the flanks.

"Wait… I heard something." Ramirez suddenly said. Everyone stopped, listening closely.

And then Damian heard it: Heavy footsteps. Kyle was close, and that meant that so was the hunter.

Ramirez raised his M90 shotgun and slowly walked toward the sound, followed closely by Damian and Akura. The three of them tried to be as silent as possible but it was impossible, braking twigs and moving bushes could alert anyone nearby, Damian could just hope that the hunter didn't have a good hearing. They continued to move that way for few more minutes but then, without any warning, Ramirez broke into a run. Damian and Shigawa followed closely.

"Come get me you ugly son of a bitch!" Ramirez screamed on top of his lungs and opened fire.

Damian ran through a bush and the whole scene opened for him. Kyle was lying on the floor, apparently alive and in front of him was a shimmering air, which Ramirez was firing at. He watched in amazement as gaping holes appeared at the shimmering air and pale-green colored blood flowed down from them. The cloaked creature screamed, took a few steps back and fell to the ground. Damian ran to Kyle.

"Are you okay?" he asked him.

"Where the fuck were you… I was looking for you for ages and that fucker over there chased me…" he said and coughed.

"Can you move?" Damian asked. He inspected Kyle. His left hand was slightly burned and the wrist shield was totally roasted.

"I can't get up and I think my left hand is gone… can't feel It." he answered and tried to get up.

Damian helped him to stand up and he steadied Kyle, who was obviously dazed and his left hand was limply hanging on his side. He looked at the hunter. Ramirez was standing near it, his weapon still aimed at the alien, as if he expected he would get up any moment. Akura helped him steady Kyle.

"First feet into hell eh?" Damian said to Kyle.

"Literally." He answered with a chuckle.

Damian recounted the last three weeks. Those bugs and those hunter aliens, and each one of those wanted them dead and actually when he thought about it, everyone here wanted everyone else dead. Kyle was right, this was almost hell. How the fuck did they end up in the middle of this?


	2. Landing

**A/N: Hello there! Thanks a lot for the reviews! I hope that i didnt make you wait for too long but the chapter is here now! I had a few issues with this chapter and i hope its good as the last one. ^^ **

**Correct me if you spot any flaws or the likes, suggestions are always welcome as well :) Now, Enjoy this chapter, leave a review and have fun!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Landing**

0530 Hours, February 7, 2563 (MILITARY CALENDAR) / UNSC Frigate New Age / Orbit / Planet Venatio

Damian took out his lighter and lit another cigarette and continued inspecting his gear. They were in the HEV bay, preparing for their rather early mission. Ever since they received the new engines from their new alien allies traveling in space became a lot faster. Damian was used to the long journeys, and the long hours of sleep that accompanied them. Now, at this early hour of the "morning", when most of the crew was asleep, they had a mission to do.

Damian finished inspecting his BR55 and turned his attention to the rest of the team.

PFC Akura was sitting next to him, cleaning her sniper rifle and loading rounds into the clip at the same time. She was at her early thirties of Japanese origin, with smooth skin on her face and raven-black shoulder-length hair. She was the most friendly person Damian ever met in his life, and he could swear that he never saw her angry. She was a little shorter then him, about five and a half feet tall with a slim body. She noticed that he was looking at her and flashed a wry smile and gave him a wink from her dark brown eyes. Though now, she was looking a little displeased.

"Hmm, you look a little… disturbed this morning." He asked her. She raised her eyebrow at the question and looked around to see if anyone was listening. This motion raised Damian's curiosity.

"Well, last night Brass had a little… too much drinks. Let's just say that I had to use my fist to change his priority of interests." She said with a frown and gave an angry look at Brass' direction.

Damian laughed out loud, causing Akura to launch a large scowl at his direction. He released a puff of smoke and gave a look at Brass. It looked like he was giving all his efforts to avoid looking at Akura's direction, which made Damian chuckle. Even though Akura was very friendly, everyone knew that if they would bring Akura's wrath upon themselves, it would be the last thing they would ever do.

On a near crate of weapons sat Cpl Jake, also known as Brass. He didn't know why or where he got his nickname, but it was his. Jake Niles was the biggest asshole in the universe, but he was loyal and sometimes, even a good friend. He stood almost seven feet tall, with battle honed muscles and an unshaved chin. The rest of his face was a little scarred, a scar on the left side of his face, said to be from a straying plasma bolt that almost got him squarely in the face. Near Jake sat the Kids. Unlike the rest of the team who were together for years, the kids were the new recruits, being with them only for several months. The kids, Privates Kyle and Jimmy, joined the ODST only a year ago and this was about to be their first real mission. Both of them didn't look older then 25, and that's where the nickname came from, they were still kids. Kyle was six feet tall and he was almost as slim as Akura. He had short blond hair and green eyes, a nose that looked like it was broken several times and a small scar above his eyebrow. Jimmy was dark haired and almost seven feet tall with a tough body build. His face was young and his blue eyes gave him a boyish look. The three of them were having a conversation and he overheard a fraction.

"I'm not saying that I want another war but seriously, aren't you bored?" Jimmy said. The other two were looking at him, scowling.

"Yeah, it's a little boring but it's not a reason to hope for war. I lost family in that shit…" Kyle said, loading a clip into his SMG. Brass just shook his head and stared at Jimmy, as if he felt sorry for him.

"Sir, can I slap the stupid out of this idiot?" Brass asked Sgt William Leone "The Grey". He was called the Grey because of his age, he was six and a half feet tall with battle hardened muscles. His face was a little wrinkled and his neatly trimmed hair was steel grey. His dark blue eyes had something frightening in them, something dead in them. If to believe rumors, Leone was over a hundred years old and Jake once said that he found out that Leone joined the UNSC back at the late 60's of the 24th century. But Damian and the others knew the truth. Leone was perhaps looking old, but he knew that if it would come to fighting, Leone would beat him with a single hand if he wanted. And if anyone could rely on someone during a battle, it was Leone.

"Kid, billions of people died in that war, many of my friends too. So if ill hear you saying shit like this again, you will be joining them." He growled, his tone leaving no room for debate.

Jimmy severely scowled but said nothing.

"Don't worry Jimmy; ill help you out if it would happen. I'll shoot you first so you won't have to suffer when sarge gets to you." Sean added, drawing a chorus of laughter.

Jimmy mumbled something that sounded like "Assholes" and said no more. Damian put out his cigarette on the ashtray he placed near him and looked at sean.

Sean was an odd Helljumper. Whenever he could he would grab the closest Covenant weapon. He was holding a Covenant Carbine and Damian knew that Sean was in love with that weapon.

Sean was in his forties, the battle was visible on his face and head. He was completely bald, with countless scars all over it but his face had much less scars and his bright green eyes shone with life.

PFC Damian was six feet tall with a slim body build but with honed muscles. He was in his early thirties but he looked much younger. He had bright brown hair and blue eyes and his nose was a little bent from an old fracture.

Damian finished wearing his armor, left with only with his helmet and the UNSC wrist shield.

The wrist shield was the human version of the Jackal shield, more powerful, more long-lasting and more wide-spread in order to cover larger areas. Rumors said that the UNSC wrist shield could handle a shot from a fuel rod cannon, but it was a rumor and Damian wasn't hoping to try this.

He attached the gray metal bracelet-like device to his wrist and tried it out. A shield appeared on his hand, fully covering his head down to the knee. If he would crouch, he would be fully protected. The only downside of this device was that it was not rechargeable, so if the energy ran out, this thing would become useless.

"All right, let's get through the plan again." Leone barked, drawing the attention of everyone in the HEV bay.

Everyone looked at the Sergeant, some groaned in protest. Leone told this to them three times already.

"All right, I'll explain this simply and quickly because some of you aren't looking too happy to hear this again." Leone said with a scowl.

"About a month ago we got a distress signal from a facility on this planet. As far as I know it is a scientific lab or something." He said with a shrug. "We don't know what happened there or why they sent a distress signal, so we are here to find out."

"The signal is about 2 months old, so let's hope we are not too late." He continued. "I don't know what were up against, this place is neutral territory, so the chances we meet brutes or whatever here, is small, but still it's possible, though I am suspecting they have a problem with the wildlife or shit like that." He finished with a chuckle. "As far as I know, we lost contact with it when reach was destroyed, no contact from them ever since, until now."

"We go down there, get to that lab or something, see if we can help them and if we can't, we get those scientists out of there!" He said.

Some nodded, some looked a little disappointed. Damian was suspicious… why would someone send a full squad of ODST to check up on a science lab? This seemed weird… unless there were chances of brutes or other dangerous creatures.

The war ended a decade ago, but the brutes never gave up. They weren't a massive force now, and they couldn't mount a massive attack, but they still attacked small planets and had a few bases on some planets. The Elites done most of the work by waging their own personal war against them, but encountering them is possible. Considering that this planet was here a long time and that it wasn't glassed could mean that the brutes seized it… but then why the distress signal came only now?

Damian donned his helmet but after a second he heard a knock. He turned his head to see PFC Mary Herman. She was in her late twenties, with shoulder length blond hair tie into a pony tail. She was a little higher then him and her blue eyes sparkled with eagerness. In her hand was a bottle of beer.

"Want a drink?" She asked him, offering a second bottle.

"No thanks, I prefer to be sober if we encounter anything when we land." He answered.

"As you wish, there's just no way im getting down on these things on a fully clear head." She mumbled and went on to offer the second bottle to Brass. A moment later he chuckled as Leone confiscated the bottles.

The next moments passed in silence as everyone were gathering their equipment and preparing for the mission ahead. After a few minutes Leone, now in full battle gear, his face unseen behind his helmet's visor, cleared his throat.

"Alright boys, and girls," He nodded towards Akura and Mary. "Were going out in 5 minutes…" He said and climbed into his HEV.

* * *

Nik'ah'kum silently climbed on the tree, taking care that his pray would not notice him. He was cloaked and he was practically invisible, but the cloaking generator did not block sound, and if he would make too much noise, his pray would escape.

His pray, a large beast that ran on four with a large horned head and a thick hide, silently ate a small dead animal beneath the tree. Once the hunter climbed on the tree he silently crept to the branch that was above the beast. He would have to be careful, if he would miss the initial strike; the beast could easily skewer him in one of the three horns or simply run him over.

It was night and the shadows would give him additional cover. He silently unsheathed his spear and prepared it for an attack. The beast was oblivious, for now. This would be the last hunt of this night.

Nik'ah'kum jumped down, but the beast heard him and started to run but the spear stopped it. Even though the spear missed, stabbed at the back instead of skewering the head the beast was wounded. The beast roared, revealing blood dripping razor sharp teeth and turned around to face its attacker, red eyes filled with rage looking directly at Nik'ah'kum.

This was what Nik'ah'kum feared, Leader told them about these beasts, that they could become berserk and will never stop until their enemy is dead. But he wasn't ready to die. He faced the Hard Meat and lived, this large beast was no match for them, and so it won't be a match for him either.

The beast charged, putting the three long and sharp horns in front of it but the hunter jumped high, away from the beast's reach. The beast missed him but kept on charging, eventually colliding with the tree and tearing it out of the ground. He was amazed for a moment; it was a long time since he saw such a feat of strength. If this animal would hit him, he had no doubt that many of the bones in his body would break instantly. But he also noticed that the momentum was the animal's enemy.

The beast turned around and charged again; seemingly not caring that it just tore a tree from its roots. The hunter leapt to the side, throwing his spear at the beast while in the air. The spear hit it's mark, tearing through the hide and ribs and ripping apart internal organs and dark red blood flowed through the wound. The animal howled, whether from rage or agony, Nik'ah'kum could see but a moment after the beast charged again!

He was left without a weapon, except for one. A pair of three feet long blades, slightly curved and rugged on the inner side, came out of the wrist guards he wore. He stood ready, the beast about to crush him. At the last moment he leapt to the side again, slashing with the blades, tearing two long gashes on the animal's side. The beast howled again, blood flowing out of the wounds, leaving small puddles on the ground.

Nik'ah'kum roared, challenging the animal, taunting it. The horned animal turned around and charged again, more slowly this time and with an apparent limp in its charge. The hunter chuckled, this battle was over.

When the beast was close enough, he leapt again, but not to the side, but forward. He grabbed the largest horns and swung himself around it, coming to land on the animal's back. The beast squirmed, trying to drop the hunter from its back but the hunter's grip was firm and the animal would not succeed in its attempts.

Nik'ah'kum raised his hand and drove the blades into the beast's skull, again and again. The beast toppled to the ground, already dead.

The hunter lifted his bloodied hand above his hand and let out a victory roar that echoed throughout the jungle. He grabbed the horn once again and slashed at its base with his armed hand, easily cutting the bone loose.

He was first to kill this creature, he would bring this horn and show it to Leader. He would show the other ones… they doubted him, speaking that even the furred hunters would easily kill him but they were wrong. He looked at the small net filled with this night's trophies. He placed the horn and spotted the pair of fangs that belonged to a furred hunter. None of them killed a large beast as this before him, he was first. Next night, he would kill a dozen of furred hunters and a dozen of these large animals… that would teach the others who was better. He looked at the sky. They began to change color, slowly becoming brighter and the number of starts at the clear skies started to decrease. Dawn was closing.

He kept musing at the thoughts of their faces, the realization that they were wrong until he heard something and spotted something at the corner of his eye. He quickly took out the spear out of the dead beast's side and stood ready for battle. But battle didn't come. Instead he spotted Leader, Nichire.

"You fought well." He said with a glimpse at the dead beast. "You are the first one to kill such a beast in this hunt."

Nik'ah'kum bowed his head in thanks. Not many were given such compliments, especially from Nichire. Only by looking at Nichire it was obvious why he was Leader.

He was a seasoned fighter, a veteran of many hunts. Many called him Queen Slayer, since as it was told, Nichire killed three of them. His mask was covered in markings, markings of honor, courage and experience. Tales were woven about Nichire, tales that Nik'ah'kum listened to when he was a young suckling. This made him wonder how old Nichire really was. And realization also hit him that in front of him was standing a living legend. Someday, Nik'ah'kum though to himself, he would surpass him.

He was about to ask Nichire about the next hunt when suddenly he noticed that Nichire was not paying attention to him. In fact, he was looking at the sky. Curious he looked as well but a moment later, he was confused.

Eight balls of flames slowly dropped to the surface of the planet.

None of them said anything for a few moments, they just watched the fireballs drop down until Nik'ah'kum decided to break the silence.

"Rocks?" He asked Nichire. Rocks falling on a planet could ruin the hunt for a long time.

"No." Nichire answered simply, rather calmly.

"Then what is it?" He asked after another moment, being unable to find an answer by himself.

"Soft Meat." He said and Nik'ah'kum could almost smell the anxiety in Nichire's voice. "Oomans."

Nik'ah'kum considered the options. If he would hunt an Ooman, and be the first one to kill on… the others would be forgotten and only he would be remembered in this hunt, except, of course, Nichire.

"Are we to hunt them?" He asked Nichire, eagerness in his voice.

"We are not here for them." He said calmly, as if not caring. "But we still must warn the others." Nichire said and walked away, leaving a very dumbfounded Nik'ah'kum behind him.


	3. Mysteries

**A/N: Hello again! I decided to work harder this time and to give you this chapter as a new year present and as a token of my appreciation for the support this fic recieved. Also i wanted to apologise that it took me so much time to update. This took me some time to write and i hope that it turned out okay eventually. So without further time wasting, Here is the third chapter! Enjoy the fic and remember, reviews are always welcome.  
**

* * *

**Chapter 3 – Mysteries**

0604 Hours, February 7, 2663 (MILITARY CALENDAR) / Planet Venatio

The HEV pod was violently shaking, threatening to fall apart, though it never did. Damian looked down and saw how the ground came closer and closer, the tiny ant sized trees growing in size and he dropped down. The COM though was even louder then the rumble he heard outside of his helmet. Brass was singing some song, which everyone but him seemed to know, with Mary and Sean singing along. It could've been fine if anyone of them would've remembered the words…

"Brass, I swear to god that if you will land near me I will shove my boot so far up into your ass that you are going to squeal like grunt for the next decade…" Leone growled. It was very easy to hear that he was pissed off. Brass heard the threat to his rear and stopped singing, drawing a chorus of laughs.

They were about to land, just a few more seconds and Damian looked down to the ground, trying to spot his presumed landing spot. What he saw did not make him happy, not at all.

There was a thick jungle beneath them, a wavy sea of green and other colors sporting through random spots. But the jungle beneath _him_ seemed to abruptly end with a very large drop. And the angle he was dropping in didn't do anything to ease his worries.

There was nothing to do now; he embraced himself for the landing. The pod jerked and he felt his stomach drop to his boots as he felt sudden drop of speed. He felt the urge to vomit inside his helmet but he decided to save it for later, maybe after the landing.

A moment later he heard a crashing sound and violent vibrations and his field of view was obscured by a cloud of dirt and stone as the pod seemed to skid on the ground. Eventually the pod stopped and the hatch was show out, only it didn't land a few feet ahead of him, it just fell down another 300 feet. Damian allowed himself to release a heavy sigh of relief.

He looked down. He landed right at the edge of ridge, but from down there the green sea of trees continued. As he watched the endless green ocean he also noticed several dust clouds, probably raised from the landing of the rest of his squad. He decided it was time to move.

He grabbed his equipment and slowly climbed out of his pod. When he was out of it he saw the short trail of destruction his pod left in its wake: a small canyon about a foot deep and a pair of broken trees.

"Echo squad report!" Leone's voice ordered.

"This is Echo four, all clear." Damian responded and a moment later he heard the other ones respond as well.

Damian simply looked down at where the rest of his team landed.

"Beautiful isn't it?" a woman's voice said. Damian looked at the source, noticing Akura coming to stand near him.

"I was more thinking about how the hell are we going to get down… but yeah, it looks nice." He answered the question once she stopped next to him. They both shared a moment of silence, just looking at the sight before them. The jungle had an aura of mysteriousness which was only enhanced by the traces of the sunrise.

"Let's make sure where we need to go first… what if our destination is up here?" She said eventually, and Damian was sure she had a wicked smile on her face. Damian nodded his agreement. He didn't want to climb down this helluva mountain if he could avoid it.

"Echo one, this is Echo four. Where is our destination?" He asked the squad leader.

"_Lets see…"_ Leone said. A moment later a NAV marker appeared on their HUDs.

"Fuck…" He heard Akura whisper in defeat. They would have to climb down this mountain after all.

Akura walked to edge and looked down. Eventually started climbing down and Damian followed her. As soon as Damian caught up to Akura, he realized that it will take some time for them to get down to the ground. His hands held with all their might as one of his legs tried to find a foothold while he tried looking not looking down. Akura on the other hand, had much more luck. She was now more then 20 feet beneath him, climbing down much more swiftly then her teammate. She stopped on a small rocky perch and looked up at Damian, silently watching him.

"_Fuck was that?"_ He heard Jimmy's voice say in surprise.

"_What was what?"_ Brass answered.

"_Something moved, right over there…"_ Jimmy whispered.

"_There's nothing there, don't be such a lousy coward."_ Brass said, teasingly.

"_Fuck off, I'm serious, I heard something"_ Jimmy said, his voice becoming more and more agitated.

"_Oh yeah, like wha-"_ He tried to say but was interrupted by something that made him scream in surprise.

Damian stopped climbing and twisted his head so he could look at the general direction his squad was on. There was a moment of silence but then he could clearly hear gunshots. Damian increased his speed and started almost sliding down against the wall until he nearly fell down, which made him return to his previous pace.

Akura meanwhile sat down on another perch beneath Damian and took aim with her sniper rifle.

"Echo one, this is Echo six, I can't get visuals on you, what's going on?" She asked over the COM.

"_Were getting attacked by fucking monkey people!"_ Brass screamed and the sound of continuous gunfire was heard.

"_These are apes, you idiot…"_ Kyle whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear. Brass was too busy to respond.

"_They are everywhere, don't let them surround us!"_ Sean warned.

"Get to the ridge; I'll cover your back!" Akura suggested.

"_Alright__, boys and girls were moving! Hold your hands so you won't get lost!" _Leone cried.

Damian silently listened to the conversation as he climbed down. Apes… the only thing he could think of, were Brutes. He finally managed to get to Akura and he crouched near her, looking around for their squad. After a moment of waiting he saw them: everyone were running toward the ridge with Leone, Brass and Kyle covering their backs as they ran and shot back at what looked like…

"Apes." He mumbled in confusion. He wasn't really expecting to be fighting apes today. He inspected them and as they got closer more and more details was revealed. They stood around 9 feet tall, had shaggy gray fur, small head with what looked like giant fangs coming out of their lower jaws, short legs and the longest, muscled arm Damian has ever seen in his life. He was amazed for a second as he saw one of the apes use his arms to _catapult _himself at least 15 feet into the air, landing right in front of Brass.

Brass didn't stop though; he just kept running forward, unleashing a hail of bullets at the creature. The ape cried in rage, pain and surprise and retreated, more then a dozen holes in his body bleeding dark red blood. 'At least they felt pain in a normal way…' Thought Damian, remembering how many bullets it was needed to take out a brute, who rarely flinched when even a dozen would've hit him in the face.

Only then, when the squad was almost at the stone wall he noticed exactly how many of them were chasing them. There were at least 50 of the beasts! Akura was shooting like crazy near him, and after each shot another creature dropped to the ground, writhing in its own blood.

A large stone boulder, about the size of Damian, crashed in the middle of the escaping ODST squad, clipping one of them. Damian recognized that it was Jimmy.

Jimmy tried climbing back to his feet but he would be too late, the bestial tidal wave was almost upon him. But before it could swallow him Leone shot past them, scooping up Jimmy while he ran by. What none of beast noticed was the small round object that Leone left in the place Jimmy was.

The tidal wave swept over the object and a moment later it exploded, sending dirt and pieces of apelike beasts flying into the air, but Leone was already far away from it

Damian was still amazed each time Leone displayed his physical condition. There was still much fight left in him.

Leone carried Jimmy all the way to the stone wall, much to his dismay, and then he threw him against a stone so he could turn around and open fire at his 9 feet tall followers.

The last ones to arrive were Sean and Brass, followed by four of the beasts. Mary shot a full clip of an SMG into the small crowd, attempting to at least slow them down. She killed one of them but the others, a little wounded but still in the fight, kept on, almost on Brass and Sean.

A pair of the beasts suddenly dropped down, one of them still alive. Mary looked up and saw Damian and Akura shooting down on the creatures. Brass and Sean turned around in time and eliminated the remaining one.

Damian looked from his higher perch as Ape-like beasts charged out of the jungle into the fray, only to be met with a hail of bullets. Some died, some managed to flee but more and more came to replace them, and the ammo of the ODST didn't do so. If Damian could describe it with a single word it would be chaos. Blood was everywhere; bodies of the raging beasts filled the ground, creating a circle around the human soldiers.

Leone was Standing in the middle of all this. Shooting down the hostiles and shouting orders.

"Cover the left flank!" He screamed as he rushed to help secure the left flank.

"Throw some frags! Shoot them down once you fix it!" He screamed at Brass who had a problem with his weapon. Brass cursed aloud and threw his BR55 to the ground, taking out a frag and his secondary weapon.

Then, something weird happened, the beasts retreated, most of them at least. The sound of battle ceased for a moment, but then, another large boulder crashed just a few feet beneath Akura and Damian, sending rubble and pieces of stone raining down of the soldiers below.

"What the hell?!" Sean screamed as more stones rained down on their heads. Everyone jumped to hide behind any available cover they could find. Leone hid behind a pile of the dead beasts.

"Looks like these shitheads are not so dumb after all." Brass said as another rock crashed above him and pieces of it rained on his head.

"I can't see anyone of the shooters. I think that they're aware of my location and took precautions. I can't do anything." Akura said with anger when another stone crashed near her. She motioned Damian to follow and they both quickly started climbing down to the rest of their squad. Staying up there was like being sitting ducks.

"We can't stay here. 10 more minutes like this and I'm out. I don't want to fight these freaks with my fists." Sean said. "I don't know, at least when we were fighting the covenant we could take their weapons but this simply reaches new levels…" He added and looked at Leone, who stayed silent through the whole conversation. Leone sat with his back against an ape corpse, his helmet staring into a small PDA that was in his hand. When he noticed that everyone was looking at him he returned his PDA back into his belt and looked back at them.

"You won't believe this… I hope that you remember the files I told you to memorize." He told them.

"Yeah, I did. I don't remember any apes going batshit insane like this." Brass said, moving his hand in a waving motion to indicate the mess around him. Leone sighed.

"I hope that at least the two of you remember the files…" Leone said when he saw Damian and Akura finally reach down and take cover behind one boulder.

"Yeah, I remember these apes in the files… though they aren't exactly like I remember them." Akura said.

"Exactly. The files say that these are 'Passive creatures that will become hostile only if feel threatened.' And that they move in large packs. The only thing correct is the part about the pack." Leone announced. A moment of silence ensued.

"Why the fuck are we talking about this when we are getting bombarded by rocks?" Mary asked when a rock fell near by, breaking the silence.

"I feel safer when I know the enemy. But what I see here is… strange. Anyway, we can't stay here. We're soon going to be low on ammo." Leone said, taking a peek around his cover.

"So how are we going to do it? Where do we run to?" Brass asked while looking around for any sign of the animals while shouldering his retrieved BR55.

"They are territorial creatures, if we leave their territory maybe they will leave us." Akura said.

"So that's our plan? Run like hell and hope they won't catch us before they will get tired of us?" Kyle said incredulously.

"Yeah, we don't have anything else to do anyway." Said Leone with all seriousness and got up into a crouch.

"Alright, Brass, Sean, you cover our backs, Damian and me will cover the front, the rest of you cover our flanks. Don't waste ammo, shoot to kill." He gave his order and gave another peek on the jungle.

"On my mark..." He said, everyone preparing for a hell of a run. "Mark!" Leone barked and everyone broke into a swift run.

They ran as fast as they could, Leone leading the way. They kept running near the mountain, keeping at least one of their sides safe but eventually the path lead back into the jungle.

They didn't stop though, they just kept running. Damian heard a single shot coming from behind him but he didn't look, he needed to concentrate on the front. He could hear the roars of the beasts behind them, many things moving through the bushes around them. They ran through the jungle, with Brass and Sean shooting most of them time to keep their backs safe. They kept on running for a long time, Damian didn't count, his legs were aching and he was out of breath. They jumped or passed around every obstacle they met in their way until suddenly Leone halted them to a stop.

Everyone stopped. Most of them were panting, Jimmy dropped to the ground and leaned against a tree, the only one who still had his composure was Leone, who stood as if he didn't sprint during the last 15 minutes non-stop.

"Listen…" Leone said and turned around with his weapon raised. Damian listened closely and only then he noticed what Leone heard: Silence.

"Looks like they didn't follow…" Damian struggled to say with his lack of breath but as soon as he finished speaking a deafening roar was heard and the largest ape-beast Damian has seen so far ran out of the nearest bush. It was at least 15 feet tall, with black fur with some of it missing on certain spots, revealing scars.

Everyone raised their weapons but the beast didn't attack. Damian noticed the beast's bloodshot eyes looking at their weapons. These animals weren't dumb, Damian could see that and the fact that they had a slight insight on tactic showed it. The beast still, strangely didn't move. It just stood there, bearing its pointy teeth and sharp fangs and growling at them.

"Don't shoot… but if it moves one step closer, fill him with lead." Leone said and slowly took a step back. Everyone did so as well. After a few more steps the beast roared at them again, opening its massive and fang filled mouth, as if giving them a warning and then it smelled the air. The creature oddly enough, stiffened and looked around for a moment. None of the ODST was sure about what to do but the creature all of a sudden turned around and fled.

"That was… weird." Sean said, answered by several nods.

"Why did it run away like that?" Kyle asked aloud.

"Who cares? We got away in one piece." Mary said cheerily.

"Lets go, we still have an objective to do." Leone said a motioned for them to follow.

They started moving in the general direction of the NAV marker Leone placed again. Damian though about what happened. Something weird happened back there… something spooked that creature… what if they were heading into a far greater danger then the previous one? He shook it off, not wanting to worry himself too much. The squad moved silently, none of them either having anything to say or simply want a moment of silence and peace. After a few more minutes a curious sight was unfolded in front of them. In front of them were about 20 cat sized creatures.

He couldn't describe them in any way other then resembling a cross between a bird and a rat.

They had black fur all over their body, with a beak-like mouth with razor-sharp tiny teeth. Their arms and legs ended with small claws.

"Scavengers. Not a danger for us. They are probably scared shitless of us." Leone said.

"Look…" Akura said. Damian saw that Akura was looking up so he followed her gaze.

Above them there were at least a dozen… things hanging from some sort of a rope. He could know what was hanging there because it was completely covered by these scavenger creatures, but it was obvious that it was once alive. He saw one of the creatures tear a part of meat and swallow it as its claws were dug into what ever that thing was.

Leone drew his handgun and released a shot into the air. The creatures squealed, a high pitched shriek, and scattered all around, disappearing in the undergrowth around them. A second after, there was a short 'rain' of those creatures and every one of them jumped down from the things above and ran after the rest. Just as the last of them disappeared from sight, Damian heard a gasp coming from one of his teammates. He looked up and understood why.

Above them, hanging upside down from a rope of sorts, were twelve, half eaten and rotten human bodies. But there was even something more disturbing about that sight,

They had no skin and some of them had no heads.

"What the fuck…" He heard Leone whisper. Kyle mumbled something about him not feeling well.

Damian inspected the bodies. They were not fresh ones, at least older then a couple of months.

Questions rose in his head, leading only to more questions.

"Who the fuck would skin someone? Its not covenant as far as I know… they never even tried to pull such shit off." Brass said with disgust creeping into his voice, expressing Damian's exact thoughts.

What was going on here? First, these animals attack them without a reason and now… these bodies hanging upside down from a tree. He looked at the ropes that were tied to the dead feet of the bodies. The ropes were tied to the high branches of the huge tree that was in front of them but… that looked like an awful long job to do. The one or ones who did it must've climbed up the tree, carrying the bodies and then hanged them from there and the fact that those branches were 25 feet above the ground… They must be very dedicated to whatever reason they did this for.

"Impossible to identify..." Leone declared.

* * *

Nichire was impressed. He had hunted Oomans before, and most of them were not a difficult pray. These times were great to hunt the Oomans, with their war going on against the other alien races. He realized that they amazed him as he thought about it. The Oomans fought an enemy far more powerful then they were, far more advanced and they were outnumbered. The war lasted a quarter of a decade and the humans prevailed. Against all odds, they survived. Nichire never quite understood what happened in the end, he heard that some galactic scale event transpired and he mused at the thought of one of the most ancient races missed it. His mandibles formed a smile as he remembered those times, at least a decade ago.

The Oomans and the other soft meat they fought were battle hardened warriors with their senses at their peak. They were the ultimate pray at that time… the ultimate _soft meat_ pray.

But that time ended. The fighting resumed but not like it was before.

But these Oomans were different. They fought like warriors and prevailed. Even he would doubt before entering the territory of the furred beasts, and have a hard time getting out of there. That is, if he was _alone._

He followed them since they landed, right after he sent the young one to meet the others.

Nichire knew how a team worked; he was taught and perfected the art. These Oomans fared well against the animals, and worked as one body. When he watched them near the mountain wall he immediately found the Leader. He was standing in the center of the battle, shouting orders in the tongue Nichire couldn't understand. He could practically smell the stench of hundreds of battles reeking out of their Leader. He saw the aura of a warrior in his stance, in his stride and in his voice. But there was something else in there: Tiredness and age, their Leader wasn't young, but with age, came experience. He would be a worthy opponent, even if he wont stand much of a chance against Nichire.

He mused at the thought of hunting their Leader down and challenging him but it was not meant to be. Not now at least. He watched the Oomans long enough to know that they never came alone to the planet and he certainly knew that there was one of their massive ships in orbit now, with a small army inside.

He recounted an incident he heard about some time ago. A Yautja hunting group killed a pack of Ooman warriors but there was a ship in orbit and more and more Oomans came, hunting the Yautja. The hunting group barely escaped but luckily, the Oomans didn't even understand what they were after.

No, he wont hunt them now, and he would not allow the others. Secrecy was their power and he wasn't going to break it. Their people hunted the Oomans and other countless races for centuries now and not one time they were discovered, as far as he knew. He wasn't going to be the one who will cause their cloak of unknown to drop. If the Oomans will find out about them the option of hunting them in the future would be different.

He watched the Oomans whenever he could, out of curiosity, but his curiosity was not matched with the one the Oomans had.

They would hunt them down, study them. Nichire wasn't going to be the cause of it. As long as the Oomans would be unaware of them, everything will remain the same. Now, they only needed to ignore them and as long as the Oomans won't interfere, or more accurately, stumble into their plans, everything would be fine.

He kept watching them for some moments as they stood there and inspected the dead bodies the other Yautja hung there. These ones interfered, and they had to be removed.

A few more minutes passed as Nichire watched them, not understanding their conversation and what they planned to do. Eventualy, their Leader motioned for them to follow and they were on their way to their destination, wherever that might be.

Nichire gave them one last look and went to his own destination. He had to explain to the young ones what was at stake.

He was Leader. They had to listen to him. And if they won't, he would kill them. The elders would approve.  


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**Well, here it is, the end. It was rather short, but i hope that you liked it after all. Hopefully, the next chapter will be written soon and you wont have to wait for it too long. Well, that was me and the new chapter. Leave a review and, Happy new year!!!**


	4. Fears

**Author's note: Heck yeah! I'm back and i have a new chapter with me. Sorry it took me this long to update, but i had a lot of things to do lately, or i was just too lazy to do anything. Stupid heat wave... and stupid writer's block.**

Anyway, I hope you will enjoy this chapter, i did enjoy writing it. Have fun reading it!  


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**Chapter 4 ****– Fears**

0823 Hours, February 7, 2563 (Military Calendar) / Planet Venatio / Jungle

Anxiety. That was exactly what Damian was feeling right now. He was considered a veteran at these years, especially in their squad who he was with since 2552 and through all the battles in earth with. He has seen at least a dozen squad members come and go through those 11 years he has been with them, the only constants being Leone, Brass, Akura and Sean.

He _was_ a veteran, now that he was thinking of it. Yeah, he was in his middle thirties right now, but physically he felt like he was still in his early twenties, just like he was 11 years ago when he first met his squad. He fought with them, bled with them, and he saw some die right next to him, a couple of them in his arms. He was injured too much times for him to count, luckily none of those injuries were grave, or affecting in the long term. He had his share of what Brass would call "Hard to the core battles" in his 11 years of serving in the UNSC, sometimes he still wondered just how the hell he managed to survive through them.

He felt fear, fear when there are countless plasma bolts flying through the air around you, fear when you see soldiers that stand near you are getting friend by said plasma bolts, falling to the ground screaming in agony, or screaming in rage while they release the remaining rounds in their clips, refusing to go down without a fight. He felt fear when he faced his enemies, one time he remembered accurately, almost like it happened just yesterday, was his first time facing a Brute, Said Brute simply through him away like he was nothing but an irritating fly or a mosquito. He somehow managed to keep his hold on his weapon and get to his feet before the Brute could kill him. He felt fear a lot of times. But he felt nothing like this before.

During the Covenant-Human war, and the following "Clean-up" as many called it, he knew what he fought, it was a known enemy that humanity faced for over 25 years, 25 years of learning how they fought and developing counter-measures against them, regardless of how desperate they became as the war progressed. Back then, he knew what he faced and what to do to survive, usually it ended up at putting a bullet through the head of his enemies but here… there was no head to put a bullet through, there wasn't anything to shred with bullets or through a frag at, in fact, there was no known enemy here. They _knew_ it was here, but they didn't know where or what it was.

He knew something for sure though: it wasn't the job of any Brutes or any other known Covenant species. In that quarter of a decade of war that they went through, the Covenant never did such things, they treated humanity like vermin, they never hanged them and they left them to lie in the battlefield, until they would rot or until the planet was glassed. They never took heads, as they found out after inspecting the bodies that the heads were ripped off along with a portion of the spine.

Akura suggested that perhaps it was a local alien race, which was intelligent enough to hang bodies and skin someone, but that theory was quickly proved wrong. The research facility here had reports on every known race that inhabited this planet, and no race here was intelligent enough to actually make ropes and skin someone.

Damian still had to think about that idea. It _did_ take humanity 300 and something years of space traveling to encounter another space-faring alien race, even though they labeled them for extermination, and the galaxy _was_ big. Other life forms in space were proven long ago and evolved forms that could build and eventually travel space was a fact now. Who said that there weren't any other races out there?

Well, whoever was out there in this jungle with them, they didn't really seem friendly so far.

* * *

Nichire was worried. Worry was a thing for the sucklings and the unblooded. Experienced and honored warriors like Nichire did not worry; they lived the hunt and triumphed. This unnerved him greatly. The fact that he was _worried_ because of _young_ Yautja, one that was blooded not so long ago above all else made him click his mandible in frustration. Young Yautja were brash and often arrogant, full of themselves and overconfident in their abilities. Nichire himself was like that himself back in his young years! It only took his mentor and first hunt Leader to dishonor him by utterly defeating him in a fight, easily dispatching him with a single swift motion. Young Yautja that disobeyed their Leader didn't live long, as for ones that actually challenged one… those were rare and often considered foolish. The word of the Leader was law; after all, they weren't Leaders for no reason.

His old mentor allowed him to keep his life and live with the shame of being defeated in such a way when he could simply kill him. Nichire learned from that day, learned that there were hunters much experienced then himself, and always to expect to meet someone better and he learned a lot from his mentor.

He would never admit it, but he missed old Akar'chi. He was on countless of hunts, many of them Nichire accompanied him, countless of trophies and young Yautja still heard tales about him. And what a way to die! Facing a Hard Meat Queen, and by himself! He died that day, but he took the whole hive with him. He wished that his death will be no less grand than old Akar'chi's.

But Nik'ah'kum… He wasn't like other young ones. Yes, he was overconfident and aspiring to greatness that was still out of his reach… but he wasn't a fool. He saw him while he hunted on their other hunts. He was cunning; he wasn't a freshly blooded Yautja, even though he was blooded not long ago. He was talented and he had great potential. Nichire would expect him to achieve a position of Leader in a few years time, though not the Leader of his group. Nichire was perhaps not as young as he was before, but he wasn't old enough to stop being the Leader and taking the young ones to the hunt. Perhaps a similar event like what happened to him with Akar'chi will erase the youngling's foolishness out his head…

When they told the others about the Oomans he saw Nik'ah'kum's reactions. He knew he wanted to hunt the Oomans, he wanted the glory and he wanted an Ooman's skull on his trophy wall. Nik'ah'kum even dared raise his voice on him and protest his order! The situation was quickly defused though; it was too close to a fight for his likings. What unnerved him were the reactions of the others. Even though they didn't express themselves like Nik'ah'kum, he knew that they agreed with him, though silently. They wanted to hunt the Oomans as well, and he suspected that they actually might do that without his permission. They were not here for the Oomans, this wasn't a normal hunt, like they usual ones they participated in. There was another hunting party here. They keyword is _was_. No one has heard anything from them in quite a long time, so they were sent here to find out what happened to them, and finish the other party's hunt.

He knew that other party. They were a party of unblooded Yautja about to participate in their blooding ceremony, but as far as his suspicions went, they apparently failed since none have returned. And failure in a blooding ceremony meant that were was a hive here somewhere.

He also knew that there were other Oomans here, before those new ones came, though there weren't many traces left of them, other then the ones the new Ooman hunting party has discovered.

Nichire was not stupid and he already guessed what those new Oomans were here for. Their objectives were very similar. His hunting party arrived to find the failed blooding ceremony party and the Oomans arrived here to find their own lost party. Nichire also knew that if there were Hard Meat here that meant that the Oomans those warriors were searching for were most likely dead.

Truthfully, Nichire would prefer to leave the Oomans be. But he knew that if the Oomans will somehow interfere, or a certain foolish young warrior will disobey him, that plan of action will be impossible. Right now though, he decided to worry about Nik'ah'kum first. One thing that he learned from countless hunts is that if there is something that worried him, he always removed the cause of that worry.

* * *

The situation wasn't looking good. But really, when did it look good to begin with?

Their ammo was low, though not really close to running out soon if they wont get their asses into a fight again. Moral dropped after the discovery of human bodies hanging from those trees and Damian could practically _smell_ the anxiety in the air around the member of echo squad.

He shifted his gaze on the Kids. They were new to this. They weren't green, no ODST was, but they weren't in such a situation before. Actually, they weren't in any major battles at all.

In a way, he envied them. Kyle grew up in a 'happy' family somewhere in Detroit back on Earth, which most of it was still alive. He had a girlfriend waiting for him back at home, something that Brass always laughed about stating that she won't wait for him for that long. Kyle was 'overly friendly' as everyone called it, or as Brass called it "Thought that someone gives a damn" when he told them about himself. Jimmy was more careful about his life stories. Well, he was the silent type about his earlier life before joining the ODST and he only talked about it when he was asked, which happened rarely, and only when Brass wasn't there. He chuckled to himself as he considered the amount of shit that Brass piled atop the pair of rookies.

Damian once wondered why Kyle decided to join the ODST, or into the UNSC to begin with. From what he heard, he had a pretty decent life back on earth, unlike the current "Original" Echo squad member. Damian himself grew up on Mars and all he had left is Echo squad who he considered as his second family, and the only one he had left. Akura grew up on some planet in the inner colonies that he already forgot the name of, but it was glassed back in 2545 when she was 15 and she was the only surviving member of her family. Brass never told them about where he grew up but they did know that his father, and his father's father both served in the UNSC and he was just continuing the tradition. Leone was actually the only one of the "original" squad that was born and raised on earth. The gray haired Sergeant never liked to talk about his family, and they respected that. They knew that he had a son that was in the Marine Corps who was stationed on some base that was attacked a little over 20 years ago. No one survived that attack. Sean was the only one of the squad that they didn't know a thing about his origins. The only thing he ever told them was that his family was gone.

He heard Brass mutter some curses when he tripped on a piece of a branch that was in the foliage, hidden from their view. Damian had to admit that. Moving through this jungle sucked.

"Fuck… How close are we to the base? I'm getting fucking tired of moving through this jungle." He said.

"We will get there when we will get there." Leone answered gruffly. They all knew that he wasn't enjoying this either.

"Sit, he does have a point there. We've been walking for around 2 hours now." Mary said, for once actually agreeing with Brass on something that wasn't connected to fighting somehow.

"We will get there in a few minutes, its not that far now, as you can see yourself. I really don't see the point of asking me this when you can see that for yourself." Leone said with a heavy sigh. _"They can see the distance on their HUDs… those dipshits." _He then added with a whisper, which practically everyone heard.

"Sorry sir, just trying to relieve the tension!" Brass said apologetically, though they knew he wasn't sorry.

Damian was getting tired of walking as well. The jungle was getting thicker and thicker as they went through, making their original plan, which consisted of them walking in a straight line to their objective completely impossible, forcing them to find detours around thick clusters of wood, gorges and rivers. He looked up, seeing the odd blue-purple color of the sky, the blazing sun and the pair of huge bluish moons that were visible during the day and the night.

As Leone promised, it took them 'a few minutes' which were 20, to get to their objective: A large green clearing, at least 500 feet in radius, at the foot of a small mountain. Damian noticed some small dog sized brown-furred animals scatter away from them once they caught sight of them. Those small creatures even looked like dogs, with the exception that they didn't have a dog's mouth; instead they had an elongated tentacle like appendage, with a long pink tongue sometimes sticking out of it, tasting the air.

"Alright," Laone started saying after the animals scattered, leaving the humans alone in the clearing. "The entrance should be here…" He said while moving towards the mountain wall.

It took them about five minutes of searching until they found it and understood why they didn't see it at first. It looked like a rockslide almost completely covered the entrance, covering it with rocks, dirt and several pieces of what was once a tree. Luckily for them, it didn't cover it completely, but in order to enter they still had to clear out the way a bit, much to Brass' annoyance.

"You think that this is the reason they sent a distress signal?" Sean asked while pushing off a large rock from the small hill the landslide formed.

"I don't think so. They wouldn't do that because of such a small thing. Besides, it's not the only base on this planet, there are another two, and if this was their only problem, they would've asked for their assistance, not ours." Akura answered. "But this does look discomforting."

"What do you mean?" Brass asked aloud.

"Well, if it was their problem problem, it would mean that the other bases would've sent someone to clear this out. Since it here… it means that no one used this door for some time." She concluded.

"That's what I've been thinking. Come on, lets clear this out and see what's going on inside." Leone barked, urging them to work faster.

After a few minutes of working, Leone screaming his lungs out on Brass for throwing a rather large rock that almost hit Jimmy they finally cleared a path for them to get through. The titanium door looked like it wasn't used for quite a while, but it wasn't damaged in any way. Giving one last look at his squad, motioning them to prepare their weapons, and fixing his grip on his own weapon Leone moved to unlock the door.

* * *

Nik'ah'kum stood before Cha'kun'da in the shadows of a large tree, away from the prying eyes and ears of their hunting party and the bright rays of the sun.

Nik'ah'kum smiled beneath his mask. He knew Cha'kun'da well, too well for the older Yautja's likings.

"Why have you called me?" He asked the younger hunter clicking his mandibles in annoyance. He didn't want to sound too hostile, his relationship with Nik'ah'kum was already strained as it is. He knew that the younger Yautja was stronger, which is why both the warriors often fought one another, with Nik'ah'kum often holding victory over him. He also understood that Nik'ah'kum was considered a prodigy, a very skilled hunter with vast potential, which was the second reason for their rivalry, and he heard the praises the older Yautja often rained upon the younger hunter, often saying that he will become Leader soon.

He never liked the younger overconfident Yautja that was in front of him, but he wasn't stupid. If Nik'ah'kum will become Leader in the future, it would be good to be on the Leader's good side. Which is why Cha'kun'da put up with him in the first place and answered to his call.

"You wish to hunt the Oomans." Nik'ah'kum stated more then asked with a click of annoyance from his mandibles. Cha'kun'da nodded his head, genuinely curious about what Nik'ah'kum will say that had to be said in private.

"Then we will hunt them together." The younger Yautja said.

Cha'kun'da looked at the warrior in front of him, shorter by half a head then him. He stood confident and his voice did not betray any hesitance. He considered his options. He wanted to hunt the Oomans. He already had experience with them once in another hunt but what he faced there… was _not_ what he had heard about them. He heard that the Oomans were the hardest prey among the soft meat, fearless in battle and impressive opponents in a hunt. But what he faced then… was a fearful bag of bones and flesh. He did that creature a favor by putting it out of its misery. Yes, it _did_ put up a fight, as meager as it was but he expected more. _Much_ more.

He didn't give up hope though. There were different Yautja, perhaps there were different Oomans and he was simply unlucky to hunt a cowardly one. Perhaps these ones will be more like what the tales said.

"Leader will not approve." He finally answered.

"I know. But I am already taking care of it. Leader will not stop us from taking out trophies from these Oomans. They are our prey. They were our prey before, and they are our prey now." Nik'ah'kum answered with several clicks of mandibles accompanying him.

Cha'kun'da suddenly realized something, though more suspecting was the correct word. Was Nik'ah'kum was planning to become Leader in this hunt? He suddenly realized that if Nichire will find out about this, he will kill Nik'ah'kum, and Cha'kun'da as well. But how will Nik'ah'kum will accomplish that? Nichire had many to support him, while Nik'ah'kum, no matter how talented he was, was still young and did not have the support of the much older members. Having many questions but not enough answers, he decided to ask. Besides, he really did want to hunt the Oomans.

"How will you accomplish that? The others will support Nichire, not you." He stated. To his surprise, Nik'ah'kum began to chuckle loudly.

"Do not worry yourself with this. I will take care of everything. The others will support me, and as for how I will accomplish that. You will have to see it for yourself." He said, clicking his mandibles in joy.

He placed a hand on Cha'kun'da's shoulder. "Go to the others now. Soon, we will have our hunt. Say not a word to the others about this."

"You can trust me. I will stay silent." He turned to leave but then paused. "You are not joining me?" he asked.

"No. I must find Nichire and speak to him about the upcoming hunt." The young warrior stated. Cha'kun'da nodded and left the shadows of the tree. He heard Nik'ah'kum leave as well.

He started to get a bad feeling about this. He respected Nichire, respected him a lot. He learned a lot from the older and respected warrior and sometimes Cha'kun'da even wished he could be like Nichire. He knew that he could never fight like Nichire. He personally saw him dispatch a dozen Hard Meat drones, with only his wrist blades and spear! Cha'kun'da had more then once aspired to become as formidable as his Leader. But now Nichire was taking away his chance to hunt a supposedly formidable prey. This was like an insult to the warrior, who silently fumed when Nichire announced that they will not hunt the Oomans.

He didn't like this. He didn't like Nik'ah'kum. But as long as he would get his hunt, he would heed Nik'ah'kum's orders. As long as he would get _his_ hunt, he will betray Nichire.  


* * *

**Ahh, the plot thickens! It will get interesting soon, do not worry, it will be _much_ more interesting! Ive been spending most of my time playing the AvP game, which was completely awesome, really. Unfortunately i havent managed to see the new Predators movie, which i heard was awesome, though not epic as much as i hoped it would be, but i cant judge it yet, i havent even seen it! I'm still rather pissed about the two AVP movies, which were unfortunately a large pile of steaming crap. Okay, the first movie wasnt so bad, just a large rip off of the AVP book, which i read, which was a lot better than the movie. Still, cant do anything about it, and Holywood _do_ have a habit of fucking up a lot of things.  
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, i will try to update a lot sooner, which would be a greatly good thing for both of us! If you liked this story, or chapter or whatever, please review! Your support will help me a lot, and if you did enjoy, dont stalk the story from the shadows, review the story and tell me what you think! I'm open for any ideas or corrections or anything else!**


	5. Complications

**A/N: Hey there! I'm back again. Sorry for the slight delay but here is the new chapter and things are getting more interesting. This will be a bit more shorter, but only slightly and you wont really notice anyway. Have fun reading this. :)****  


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Chapter 5 ****– Complications**

0915 Hours, February 7, 2563 (Military Calendar) / Planet Venatio / Research Base Alpha

The base was dark and quite creepy. At least that was what Damian though but he was sure that the others had similar thoughts. The only source of light that they had were the flashlights that were built into their helmets but beyond that, they were walking down in pitch black hallways.

Damian wasn't afraid of the dark. He's been in dark places a lot of times during the war and it never really bothered him. No, what made him nervous was the silence. It wasn't just quiet there, it was that kind of silence, the one that makes you feel pressure in your ears, the type that makes you want to hear anything but that silence. Luckily for him, that deathly silence was interrupted by their footsteps and the occasional comment one of his squad-mates said.

Damian could see the small clouds of dust his boots made every time he stepped, which indicated that they were not used in quite a long time. As far as he saw by now, every function this base had was currently shut down, with the exception of the ventilation system, which they were thankful for. He was pretty sure no one would be happy about wandering around a dark base lacking oxygen.

"Where the fuck is everybody?" Sean asked. "I mean, as far as I remember this base had a personal of a hundred or more. They couldn't just vanish,"

"Yes, they had one-hundred and fifty-three people here, with a personal of thirty marines that were here for protection," Akura added, earning herself a couple of stares.

"How the hell do you remember those things…?" Sean muttered. "Anyway, where could they have gone to?"

"That's why we're here for," Barked Leone as he stepped closer to a door, the first one they encountered in their trek through the dark hallways. "Now shut up, if there is anything here I don't want them to hear us,"

Damian looked back at the way they came from, the safety off from his BR55, and returned his vision to the door. It never hurt to be cautious and he would die before he would allow something to get them from behind. The Sergeant examined the door, finding it open, and he motioned them to get ready.

Leone stood in front of the door, the rest of the squad falling into position behind him. As Leone pushed the door open Brass and Sean stormed in, quickly examining the room with their weapons raised. Finding no one there, or anything that could be considered hostile, they lowered their weapons and gave the others the 'clear' sign.

The rest of the squad entered the room and looked around for anything that can be of any use to them.

"It's empty," Mary muttered as she inspected one of the dusty tables.

"This won't do at all. We have to get the power on," Leone said. "The control room is on the second floor. If that won't work, we have to get to the bottom one to activate the generators manually,"

"Alright, then lets move," Brass said and left the room with everyone else following him.

In fifteen minutes they reached the staircase to the lower floors, since the elevators were offline they had to go down by the old way. As they saw so far, the base operated on the minimal levels, barely actually. Whatever happened here had to be big to explain why the base had to be shut down.

They found more open room on their way to the staircase, most of them empty with no clues, though some of them were quite messy. Nothing to indicate a battle or anything, but enough to indicate hasty movement while knocking down various objects like chairs and so on. As it seemed, the first floor seemed to be the floor where everyone worked, what they worked on is still a mystery.

One of the most intriguing things they spotted was in the mess hall. As they found out, there were enough food supplies for another year or two, so it indicated that the inhabitants of the base didn't leave the base for any reason. It had to be good if they left all their food supplies here.

As they descended the steps down to the lower level they had to wonder just what happened here. There were no signs of battle at all, in fact, it seemed as though everyone just stood up and left all of a sudden, though they were not really sure if they left from their free will, if the dead bodies they found in the jungle were any indication.

"Alright, the control room should be right around this corner." Leone announced as they turned the corner he talked about.

The second floor was filled with labs or rooms with research equipment in them. This floor was quite different from the first one. This floor was messier than the first one, with scattered chairs and other things in those rooms.

Leone stepped through the opened door of the control room and to their relief dim light greeted them from the machinery and screens in the room. Sean and Akura walked to the machinery and began their work to get the power back on.

"Kids, Damian and Brass, I want you to search this floor for anything that might tell us what happened or for someone alive," Leone said gruffly.

"Roger!" Brass said and the rest silently followed him out of the room.

"Jimmy, you're coming with me, Damian, take the other one." Brass ordered. "I'm not going to leave these two by themselves. They might get lost or do something stupid,"

Damian simply nodded and motioned Kyle to follow him. He and Brass looked at the corridor and the pitch black that they saw at each end.

"I'll take left." Damian said and without further words left in that direction, Kyle quickly following.

They walked in silence for a few minutes with Kyle muttering something about Brass being an asshole. As Damian sidestepped a piece of the ceiling the somehow fell to the floor Kyle took upon himself to start a conversation.

"So what do you think happened here?" he asked.

"How the fuck should I know? One thing for sure, I don't like this…" Damian replied.

"You think those bodies we found in the jungle came from here?"

"Yeah, might be. I don't know why would they leave the base, it doesn't make any sense. The base is relatively safe in all regards, they had marines with them and they could simple do a lockdown to the whole base and wait for us to arrive…but as we see they didn't." Damian gruffly said, illuminating one room with his flashlight. Finding nothing inside but shut down equipment they continued their search.

"I don't like this too. Where could they have gone to? I mean, the jungle is not exactly the safest place,"

"Yeah, it's not. I do know that if we won't find anything here Leone would probably want us to go to the second base. They might be there,"

A soft hum suddenly spread through the base as white light suddenly spread through the corridors.

"_We got most of the power back online, though it looks like one of the generators is still offline so we would have to activate it manually__. Found anything yet?" _Leone's voice sounded through the speakers in his helmet.

"No sir. The lights are on now, so it would make this easier," Damian replied as he and Kyle shut off their flashlights.

"_Alright, keep searching_"

"Roger that," He said and turned down the connection, turning to his teammate. "Let's go,"

They kept on going through the now lit corridors and room. As Damian said it was easier now, since they didn't have to worry about the darkness and they could open all the doors now, which had electronic locks, thus they couldn't open those before.

"What the fuck…?" Kyle muttered loud enough for Damian to hear. Damian exited the room he inspected and looked at the direction Kyle looked at.

What he saw was a black corner of the corridor but that wasn't what made Damian so interested, what was so weird was the gaping hole the wall and floor had. They slowly moved closer, each removing the safeties from their respective weapons until they stood right in front of the hole.

The hole itself wasn't deep, perhaps three feet deep and a piece of the wall near by was missing but the most interesting part was that the hole appeared to be _melted_ floor.

"Plasma?" Kyle asked as Damian crouched to inspect it.

"I don't think so. Look at the sides… looks like something dripped down there. There, see that?" he asked, pointing on one particular spot on the wall, which looked like it was eaten away. "Plasma doesn't do this, and I've seen enough plasma bolts to know how it works."

"Look there," Kyle said, walking to stand near the wall to point to a small hole in it. Damian stood up and walked to him to inspect the hole.

"It was made by a bullet. Looks like they shot at something that was here," he said, indicating the wall and the hole in the floor. "And here's another one…"

He quickly counted two more small holes, probably made by a side-arm, possibly an M6D. Other than that, there was nothing that showed him what they were shooting at.

"So what do you think made this hole?" Kyle asked to which Damian shrugged.

"I don't know, I think we should let Akura or Sean check this out. They know more about this than me and Sean knows everything about covenant weapons,"

"Okay, lets go there, there might be something more in that direction," Kyle offered, pointing at the darkened hallway behind him. Damian nodded and allowed Kyle to lead.

As they walked through that particular hallway Damian noticed more holes in the ground, though much smaller than the first one they found. Eventually the corridor came to an abrupt halt in front of a large barricade made from tables, chairs and other heavy object that could've been found. Behind the barricade was another titanium door that Damian was sure lead to the third floor of the base. But it was unimportant at this moment. The important part was the door itself.

The door was welded shut.

"I think Sarge would want to hear about this." Damian said.

* * *

Nik'ah'kum stood by the edge of the cliff that was to be his meeting place with Nichire. He thought over this plan dozen of times and he was sure that it would not fail. No, he wasn't sure, he _knew_ he won't fail.

He agreed with Nichire to meet him here and he showed up earlier to prepare everything that was needed. The plan he had was perfect and he knew that when he would execute it, everyone will want to hunt down those Oomans.

Oomans, the supposedly toughest soft meat to hunt. He didn't believe those tales of how powerful the Oomans were and that they were a good prey that might even reverse the roles if one wouldn't be careful enough. Nik'ah'kum heard about hunting parties that went to hunt Oomans before, and he heard about those that did not come back from those hunts. Oomans were paradoxical creatures. They were physically weak, much weaker than a grown Yautja and they didn't stand a chance against one in close combat but in all the hunting parties that he heard about who hunted Oomans, there were always casualties.

Of course, casualties were a common thing against a formidable foe, but he doubted the credit that the Oomans were given. Regardless of what he thought about it, he knew for sure that they were not weak. The fact that they survived a genocidal war against an opponent far stronger than them is a proof of that.

A rustle from the leaves of the nearest tree brought him out of his musing and he spotted Nichire studying the meeting place. The younger warrior turned to meet his Leader as he jumped down from the tree to land near him.

"Why have you called me here?" Nichire asked, weary of the young warrior. In his opinion, a younger warrior to be calling their Leader in a secluded area of the jungle seemed suspicious.

"I wanted to discuss about the matter of the Oomans," Nik'ah'kum clarified.

"I thought that I already said my opinion on that matter. They are not part of our mission and we must not draw them into this matter," Nichire said angrily, clicking his mandibles from his irritation.

Nichire followed the Oomans to that 'cave' to make sure that they wont interfere with their business. As long as they would stay in there, there will be no danger to them and the hunting party would be able to complete their mission without any intrusions.

"I am well aware of that but I have something that might change your mind," Nik'ah'kum replied smugly, raising his arm to indicate the cliff.

Nichire eyed the cliff carefully. He wasn't sure what the young warrior wanted to show him there, in fact, Nichire was half-expecting him to attack him now, to defeat him in a fight and take the position of Leader and to a fight he did prepare. With tensed muscles, honed from years of experience, he walked with Nik'ah'kum to the edge of the cliff, truthfully curious of what was on the youngling's mind.

As they stood on the edge Nichire looked down. The cliff wasn't very high, around forty feet high drop down to the trees. Nik'ah'kum pointed down the trees and Nichire looked down at what he indicated. Nichire raised a nonexistent eyebrow. Around twenty dead Ooman bodies hanged from the tree, one of the only things that were left from the first hunting party that they searched for. He had to wonder why would Nik'ah'kum would want to show him this.

If Nik'ah'kum didn't wear his mask Nichire might have noticed the devilish smile that he wore on his face.

Sharp pain spread through Nichire's back and he gasped in shock. He looked down and saw a pair of blades protruding out of his chest, a pair of blades that he recognized as the trademark wrist blades that all Yautja warriors used. It only took a second for him to bring the pieces together but he was too late to react. The blades left his back ad reentered, eliciting a roar of pain from Nichire.

He felt a strong arm grab his neck from behind and he was pulled down to the ground. He dropped down with a heavy thud, and Nik'ah'kum didn't waste any second; he stabbed him again, this time in the stomach.

Nichire cried again but this time from rage.

"Coward!" He roared, ignoring that searing pain that it caused his lungs. It was a pure act of cowardice. No one would forgive Nik'ah'kum, no one. No warrior that honored himself would strike at an opponent's back, even before the battle started. No Yautja fought like this, unless it was a hunt, but this wasn't one. He tried to say something again but instead broke into a coughing fit and he felt warm liquid in his mouth. He realized that the treacherous bastard must've pierced his lungs.

Nik'ah'kum didn't reply. He simply crouched down near the weakened Nichire and reached to remove his mask, swatting aside Nichire's once powerful arms.

As the mask came of Nik'ah'kum was greeted by Nichire's hateful eyes. He took note of the amount of blood that was dripping out of Nichire's mouth, knowing well that if he would continue talking he would only quicken his death. Apparently Nichire knew this as well since he stayed silent and unmoving.

Nichire knew that his wounds were those which were often lethal, and that his chances of survival were limited unless he will receive help. Unfortunately, he knew that help will not come.

"You…will pay for this," Nichire growled hoarsely, spitting out blood as he finished.

"We shall see," Nik'ah'kum replied as he inspected Nichire's scarred mask.

The young warrior move to Nichire's side and kicked him in the ribs with all his strength. Nichire stifled a cry of pain and he felt gravity take effect on him. The kick was powerful enough to send him rolling down from the edge and now he was about to meet the ground below.

Nik'ah'kum stood on the edge, looking down as Nichire descended, eventually disappearing in the trees. He stood there for a few minutes, just in case Nichire survived and he would have to finish what he had started. He knew that Nichire couldn't survive his, albeit cowardly, assault and this caused him to smile. With Nichire out of the picture, they will hunt the Oomans. Now, only one thing remained to do.

He walked to the bushes where he hid his most needed item. When he reached it he crouched down, reaching his bloodied hand to grasp the small object that he laid there.

He grabbed the Ooman burner that he picked up from one of the dead Oomans, an MD6 as the Oomans called it but he did not know that, and aimed it at the Nichire's mask. One clawed finger pulled the trigger twice and the weapon boomed two times, creating a pair of small holes in the mask.

He was glad that he took the time to find out how to use the Ooman weapon; otherwise his plan would've failed. He had to wonder how the Oomans survived with such small and rather primitive weapons. Now, he had only one thing left to do. He raised the burner and aimed it at his own shoulder and pulled the trigger.

Stifling a cry of pain he shot himself again, this time lower. Throwing the gun aside he breather heavily, trying to ignore the pain. He knew that the metal projectiles that the burner shot were still in his arm but he could remove it later, it didn't really matter. Moving his fingers and wiping the blood from his wounded he then wiped it on the holes he made in the mask. He would have to make it seem that Nichire was actually shot. He continued doing so until the mask was mostly bloodied by his own blood and all that while he was smiling widely with the knowledge that the hunt would start soon.

Nichire was well respected in their home planet and in their hunting party and many would want to avenge him, and Nik'ah'kum knew that well but he did not fear the retribution.

After all, the Oomans killed Nichire.  


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**Ahh, that bastard. Anyway, thank you for reading this, i hope you enjoyed this chapter. Constructive criticism, suggetions and anything else you might want to say to me is always welcomed! Thanks for reading this again. Until next time, which will be around a week or two weeks from now. **


	6. Beginnings

**I'm on a roll! Two chapter in a single day. Well, one chapter for this story :P. First of all, i believe that i must apologize for taking so much time to update (you probably though i was dead i think, but heh, im not) and i also apologize in advance for this chapter, since its ridiculously short. The reason for that is the four hours i spent writing this for the sake of updating this and dvancing the story after so long. I believe the next chapter will be much longer. Now, a warning for you, there might be some words that you simply wont understand later into the chapter, but do not worry! Just read it and enjoy, ill discuss more of it at the end of the chapter.**

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0955 Hours, February 7, 2563 (Military Calendar) / Planet Venatio / Research Base Alpha

"So you want to tell me that they welded the third floor door shut," Leone asked aloud after they regrouped in the control room and Damian reported what they found. "And that whatever melted the floor there wasn't plasma?" he asked, looking at Sean who just returned from inspecting the hole.

"Yeah, that ain't plasma, that's for sure," Sean replied, looking quite worried about something.

"Then what is it?" Kyle asked, interrupting whatever Leone was about to say.

"Honestly? It looks like acid and a pretty strong one too. As for why they spilt so much acid there, if they even spilt it in the first place since there are signs of battle there... I have no clue," Sean finished grimly.

Brass kept silent through the whole conversation, blankly staring at the now-working screens, which displayed the progress of the system diagnosis. Leone looked at him for several seconds before addressing him. "Brass, you got anything to say?"

Brass nearly jumped from where his was sitting, being broken out of whatever he was thinking of, and looked around for a second before he turned his gaze to their squad leader. "Sir?"

"Tell me what you have on your mind, you're never this quiet," Leone said gruffly. Everyone's attention turned to Brass, who looked quite squeamish at the sudden attention he was receiving.

"I... I don't like this sir," he replied after a moment of uncomfortable silence. "This place is just... empty. Covenant don't do this kind of shit. This place is just empty, like everyone just disappeared. The worst part is that I already heard about it," Brass finished uneasily.

"You have?" Akura asked, raising a delicate eyebrow.

"Yeah, back in '59 I was on shore leave on Earth and there I met up with some other guys on shore leave. We got to talking about stuff and one of the guys told us about one of the missions he had. An outpost went dark and his squad was sent to check it out. When they arrived there the outpost was just empty. No people, no dead bodies, just...nothing there. The systems were wiped, no signs of battles, absolutely nothing. Command assumed that they just defected and took all the data but the guy who told me about this didn't believe that shit and neither did I. The outpost still had plenty of supplies left and they found all the belongings still there. Its like they left, leaving all their stuff behind," Brass finished, allowing the unsettling silence to engulf the squad.

"B-but its not like that here," Jimmy broke the silence. "There are signs of battle here, that acid, bullet holes and not to mention that welded door!" he said, attempting to ease the sudden grim mood Brass' story delivered.

"I wont believe anything until I find out what the fuck happened here," Leone concluded.

"I agree, we cant be sure of anything yet," Akura agreed.

"Besides," Mary added, "we might find something out once the system comes back online."

"Alright, enough sitting on our asses. I want all of you to search the base one more time. If you find anything that might explain what happened here, bring it to this room. Mary, Sean, you're staying here with me. While the three of us are going to try and bring the system up the rest of you search the base, are we clear?" He barked, answered by a chorus of 'Yes sir!'.

The squad, with the exception of the three that stayed in the control room, quickly piled out through the narrow door and all of them splitting up as soon as they left the room. Akura casually strode up to Damian, moving in step with him as they left to one of the corridors. No one said a word for several minutes, as they walked through the hallways, entering unlocked room to see if there was anything useful or salvageable in there.

"_Found another battle scene. No bodies, bulletholes, those acid holes... same shit,"_ Jake announced over the COM.

"Nothing on our end," Damian reported as they left another room without any luck.

"What do you think?" Akura asked him, her depolarized visor facing his way.

"Honestly? I'm scared the crap out of this place, just look at it," Damian answered honestly, gesturing at the hallways with his free arm. The place was indeed in shambles. Speckles of dust hung in the air and the minimal amount of light they managed to bring back online was only making the place look worse as the barely lit neon lamps cast dark shadows in some areas. One lamp at the end of the corridor flickered in an annoying manner and Damian was suddenly reminded of those horror vids he used to watch when he was a kid, despite the fact that his parents told him not to do so. To this day he had this... deep anxiety of flickering lights.

With a shudder that he managed to suppress he turned to face his companion. "What about you?"

"I'll be honest as well," she began, pausing as she looked into another room, "I'm worried. Jake was not the only one who heard of such an event. I've heard of one as well," she trailed off.

Damian raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. "You've heard of it?"

"Yes. One of the inner colonies went dark. When our forces arrived at the scene they expected the Jiralhanae, not empty buildings, empty streets and no bodies anywhere in sight. The colony simply vanished. However, several miles out of the colony, they found a large crater, possibly from a nuclear weapon as radiation was present. They never found anyone alive," she finished her tale, her eyes showing a decent amount of worry in them.

"You think the same happened here," it was a statement, not a question.

"Yes, I do think so, although here the people here didn't go quietly. I've also noticed that these disappearances began around ten years ago, shortly after the war," she speculated.

"You think there's a connection?" he asked her, "I doubt it was what remained of the covenant though."

"I cant be sure of that. As for the covenant, I know that they aren't responsible. They tend to be more open in their acts of aggression."

"True. Well, lets all hope we find something in the database, it might help us shed more light on this mystery," he said the last part with a bit of a dramatic flair, causing Akura to chuckle at that.

* * *

"Aww man, why does Damian always gets to hang out with Akura?" Jimmy muttered.

"Hah! What was it? What did I hear now?" Brass interrupted him from behind, wearing a shit-eating grin behind his depolarized visor. Kyle snickered in the background.

"It was nothing, now fuck off!" Jimmy replied angrily.

"Kyle, what did he say? I don't believe I heard it right," Jake turned his head to face Kyle, still wearing that grin. To make matters worse for Jimmy, Kyle returned the same grin to Brass. It was well known that Jake didn't have much against Kyle, other than him being the FNG, Jimmy being his least favorite one.

"I believe that he mentioned Akura, something about her not hanging out with him I think," he feigned ignorance, suppressing a snicker.

"Aww, wittle Jimmy likes our resident sniper?" Brass asked him mockingly. Jimmy bristled uncomfortably under his grin.

"Its not like that, I just want to get some tips on sniping..." he said lamely, to which Brass barked a loud laugh.

"Meh, don't even think about going there. Damian and Akura have a...thing going on," Brass clarified.

"Really? How do you know?" Kyle interjected, curiosity in his voice.

"Heh, it was around seven years ago, maybe eight. We had shore leave on one of the remaining planets after several battles against the brutes. We had a large party on our last day there and on the next day when we were supposed to leave, guess who was late as hell?" Jake explained, a grin forming on his face when he said the last part.

"Damian and Akura," Kyle answered, a lesser version of Jake's grin forming on his face.

"Damn right. I don't think I've seen sarge get so angry. Ever. Really, I thought his head might explode. It was embarrassing really, as the freaking ship was waiting just for us. Sarge went to get Damian and I, being the helpful soldier that I am, joined him to kick his ass," at this point Brass started laughing his ass off.

"What happened?" Jimmy asked, unable to fend off the grin that gradually built up.

"Oh, that was, perhaps, the best day of my life," he said after he calmed down enough to continue speaking, pausing to add dramatic effect. "we found them both in Damian's room, naked as on the day they were born. Sarge went absolutely fucking ballistic on them. He didn't even give them enough time to get dressed, not to talk about the massive hang-over they had. He then chased them down all the way to the space elevator while they barely managed to grab some bed sheets to cover themselves," he then burst into more laughter, this time joined by both younger soldiers.

"Holy crap!" Kyle remarked as he regained control over his voice.

"Hell yeah, I don't think I ever laughed so hard in my life. All the stares they got in the elevator... and the verbal bitch-slapping they got from Sarge once they got on the ship. He canceled their next shore leave but it didn't really help since some people on the ship told us that they screwed around like rabbits there anyway. At least that time they didn't oversleep..." Brass finished, a fond smile on his face.

"So what, are they together?" Jimmy asked.

"Dunno, they got this weird on-off thing going on," Jake replied with a shrug, signifying that he didn't really care. "Don t mention this story to them though. Damian will probably punch you in the face and Akura will probably punch you as well and then go to punch _me_ because I told you, got that?" he said, his face a mask of mock seriousness.

"Yes sir," Kyle replied with a casual salute.

"As much as this conversation is amusing and somewhat nostalgic, we do have a job to do. I think we missed around ten rooms while we talked," Brass remarked.

"Eight actually, I counted," Jimmy pointed out, earning himself a blank stare from the older ODST.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because you were telling a story and I know how you get when you're interru-" he wasn't able to finish as a loud shuffling sound was heard above them. The three of them quickly raised their weapons and aimed them at the ceiling. The deafening silence was crushing them as they stood still as statues, waiting for something to happen.

"What the fuck was that?" Kyle whispered through their COM frequency instead of using the speakers, fearing that whatever caused the sound was listening to them.

"You're asking me?" Jake replied, whispering as well even if there wasn't a need to do so. Just then they heard the sound again, more clearly this time. It sounded as if something was moving above them, through the ceiling... and it was moving away from them.

"After it!" Brass barked as they ran after whatever caused that sound. They chased the surprisingly fast... whatever it was as it moved through the ceiling. "What's it doing in the ceiling?" Jake yelled as they turned into another corridor as they chased it.

"I think its in the ventilation shafts, that's the only way whatever it is can move through the ceiling!" Kyle replied, his voice sounding ragged from the run.

The continued to run after whatever it was, running into Damian and Akura when they turned into another corridor. "The fuck is that?" was the first thing Damian said as he looked at the ceiling, obviously hearing the sound the creature, for it couldn't be anything else since humans couldn't fit into a freaking ventilation shaft let alone move so fast at the same time. "Hell if it know, its getting away!" Jake yelled to him as they ran past them. Damian and Akura shared a glance before they ran after them.

They chased after the creature for another minute before their chase ended where they didn't expect. Whatever moved through the shafts finally reached a point where they couldn't follow it, the sound of it moving through the shaft gradually lessened before it eventually disappeared, leaving the slightly winded and now more worried than before group of ODST staring at the welded door that lead to the third floor.

* * *

Cha'kun'da was rather anxious. He heeded Nik'ah'kum's order and gathered the hunting party. All six of them, with the exception of Nichire and Nik'ah'kum gathered in a desolate clearing in the jungle and waited for their arrival but by now Cha'kun'da began to worry. The others also displayed some measure of weariness, as Nichire was not one to keep them waiting but like Nichire said to them once, patience was important to the hunt and those who did not have it died young but while they knew that they had to wait patiently, they could not but worry. Nichire was _never_ late.

While they waited for the Leader they silently conversed among each other and Cha'kun'da silently listened in. The most common topic were the Oomans. Most of the hunting party felt that they should hunt them while a couple shared Nichire's view on the situation. Cha'kun'da couldn't actually disagree with both groups. While he did want to hunt the Oomans, as the tales that were told about them were sometimes grand, he knew that Nichire was somewhat right, that secrecy was their strength and if the Oomans will become aware of them, future hunts might not be available.

All thoughts and conversations came to halt when Nik'ah'kum stumbled into the clearing and collapsed as soon as he saw them. Cha'kun'da was certain that he saw the vibrant green of their blood on his shoulder. The group quickly approached him to helm him on his feet. One of the older Yautja, Ee'vara, rolled Nik'ah'kum onto his back and inspected the wound.

"Ooman burner," he stated, causing the others to start chattering amongst each other. He removed Nik'ah'kum's mask to reveal his dazed gaze.

"_Ki'cte!_" One of Nichire's main supporters, Ave'gaar, barked, silencing the others. He was one of the most experienced warriors they had and he commanded the younger one's respect. "What has happened?" He asked Nik'ah'kum as he approached him.

Nik'ah'kum simply reached into his pouch with a shaky hand in response, pulling out a Yautja mask. Silence descended upon the group as they watched the young Yautja raise the mask, offering it to Ave'gaar with a shaking hand. Everyone froze as soon as they inspected the mask, two burner holes through it and the easily identified Yautja blood covering it. It was without a doubt Nichire's mask. Nik'ah'kums masked gaze settled on the older warrior before he uttered two hoarse words. _"Pyode Amedha."_

_Soft meat._ The silence was simply deafening and Cha'kun'da's eyes widened behind his mask, already deciphering Nik'ah'kum's plan and realizing what he done. Ave'gaar arched his back and unleashed a roar that held all his fury.

"_C'jit!_" Ave'gaar roared, now raising Nik'ah'kum roughly to his feet. "How did this happen?" he roared into his face. "How?" he roared again, this time unsheathing his _Ki'cti-pa._

"Nichire was watching the Oomans but they spotted him and attacked. He fought them but he fell, I attempted to retrieve him but i failed... that is all i managed to take without dying," he said hoarsely, gesturing at the mask.

Ave'gaar watched him silently for several moments. "Coward," he eventually spat, dropping the wounded Yautja to the ground, sheathing his _Ki'cti-pa._ "Do not treat his wounds. May it be a reminder of his cowardice," he spat, a constant growl emmenating from his throat. "And he will be the _Hult'ah_ for the remainder of the Hunt.

Ave'gaar faced the group, who all looked at him in anticipation, the sound of mendibles clicking could be heard. "Nichire's path ended here," he finally stated. "but," he paused there, "_Dtai'k-dte sa-de nav'g-kon dtain'aun bpide_," he finished as the other roared in agreement.

_'The fight begun would not end until the end.' _Cha'kun'da mused. The decision has been made. The _Pyode Amedha_ began the fight and the Yautja will end it. He watched Nik'ah'kum as he continued to sit on the ground, watching the others. He saw the pleased and the the clicking of his mendibles in anticipation. He felt disgust rise within him and his contempt for the _Kwei_ Nik'ah'kum grow. He respected Nichire as he was a great Leader and he learned much from him. For his _Dhi'ki-de_ to be brought by the hands of one such as Nik'ah'kum... such an unispiring way to meet the Dark Warrior...

Ave'gaar gave a bark to get their attention, forcing everyone to face their new Leader, as he was the most experienced of them, now that Nichire was gone. _"M-di H'chak!" _he growled, raising a fist into the air.

_"M-di H'chak!" _the others repeated in a chorused roar, raising their fists into the air as well.

The Hunt has begun.

* * *

**Ooh damn, the shit is about to hit the fan so prepare yourselves! Heh, i really had fun writing this chapter and I hope the Yautja language didnt confuse you too much. Honestly, im too lazy to write the translation here, even though i translated a few of the words in the chapter, but if you're really curious just ask and i will provide it in the next chapter, which this time will come within two weeks (i mean it this time!). Damn, im still a bit giddy from writing this chapter, simply because the interesting stuff will begin next chapter! Thank you for reading my story and double thanks to all the reviewers! I gladly accept constructive criticism, suggestions, idea and just your simple opinions (It can be negative as well). Leave them all in a review or a PM, whatever suits you :P. Thanks for reading and until next time, Delvaro out!**


	7. Complications II

**Oh yeah. Really, im on a roll. Updating two stories in one day!****Heh, im happy now. Now the story is about to get interesting... I hope you liked the last chapter because in this chapter the shit is about to hit the fan!**

**A large thank you to all the people who loved this story, reviewed and placed it on alert! I'm glad you liked it :) Now, enjoy the brand new chapter!**

* * *

1145 Hours, February 7, 2563 (Military Calendar) / Planet Venatio / Research Base Alpha

"Have you seen it?" Leone barked the question that everyone was asking.

"No sir, we have no idea what it was," Brass replied for everyone. A moment of silence descended on the group as they pondered what it could have been.

"Uh," Kyle broke the silence, causing everyone to turn their heads at him. "well, the vents cant be that large so I doubt it was a human. Not even a grunt would fit in there. I guess it was an animal or something," he quickly explained, feeling somewhat nervous from their stares.

"That is a logical conclusion," Akira supported his words.

"Maybe, but how did it get into the ventilation systems? They're supposed to be sealed exactly for such occasions," Jimmy spoke, adding his voice to the conversation.

"What concerns me is the fact that it ran to the third floor. For all we know that thing might've been the reason why they sealed the doors in the first place," Sean spoke his mind.

"True but the only thing we know is that the thing, whatever it is, was damn fast. I will bet that it could easily outrun us in an open area," Damian added.

"Alright," Leone spoke, his rough voice silencing everyone. "the only way for us to find out what it was is to go down to the third floor. Let me remind you that there are four floors in this base and we don't know whats down there so if you don't mind, I don't really want to go down there without any info," he explained, getting several nods in understanding.

"Hm, it certainly fits the mission parameters. You said that they had trouble with the local 'wildlife'. If there are animals in the ventilation shafts its entirely possible that these things are the troublemakers," Jake said, leaning against a table.

"I don't think so," Leone interrupted. " If animals would've killed everyone, there would've been bodies, both human and animal. Let me remind you that there was a small garrison of marines here so they wouldn't have gone quiet," the sergeant explained, causing some murmurs in the group. "Above that, Mary found out that most of the system here was wiped."

"Cole Protocol?" Damian asked, dreading the answer. If the Cole Protocol was initiated that meant that whatever wiped everyone out here was fully sentient, maybe even space faring. One thing for sure, whatever happened here wasn't caused by the brutes.

"No," Leone replied, his answer causing a few raised eyebrows. Why would anyone wipe out the system? "It was more... violent as Mary told me. It was a crude work since there are some things that weren't wiped. Most of it is useless but she is currently trying to salvage whatever she can. Maybe whatever she will find will shed some light on the situation."

Minds spun in overdrive as Leone finished speaking. Some of them reached the same conclusion. Whoever wiped the system didn't want them to find something out. Damian noticed several security cameras, which were offline now, and he suspected that they could've caught whatever happened here on tape. It left him with some hope, as the mystery was both killing him and creeping him out.

"Alright, there are two other bases on the planet and we still haven't checked them. The survivors of this place might have went there. Right now, we need to report to the Captain," Leone explained, reminding them that they might walk through the jungle again this day.

Leone opened a COM channel with the ship, followed by the rest of the squad who joined the frequency. "This is Echo squad reporting."

"_This is the Captain of the _New Age_, report,_" came the reply, though it was somewhat strained.

"There is nothing here sir. Alpha base is devoid of life, system was wiped. We suspect sentient beings involved. We still have two more bases to search, we might find survivors there," Leone explained, quick and to the point.

"_I see... check the scanners again, we're not going to take any risks!_" the captain said the last part to someone else.

"Sir?" Leone asked. Something was going on in orbit.

"_Its nothing you should worry yourself about. We just have some weird activity here, it could just be –oh shit!_" the captain shouted the last part, quickly followed by a loud crashing sound, followed by a muffled explosion. The squad tensed, Jimmy and Kyle nearly jumping in surprise.

"_-hit! Shields... -percents, we wont... -hit,_" what they heard was garbled and filled with static. It was completely incomprehensible but they didn't need to be geniuses to know that their ship was just hit. "_Mayday, mayday, this is the _New Age_, were going do-_" there was another muffled explosion and then silence.

They all stood there in silence, looking at each other, some of them wearing horrified expressions, some scowling grimly. After a few seconds, like a well-oiled machine, they all grabbed their gear at the same time and rushed out of the facility in top speed.

* * *

1145 Hours, February 7, 2563 (Military Calendar) / UNSC Frigate New Age / Orbit / Planet Venatio

Everything was going fine, boring even. They just spent their time scanning the planet, looking for any kind of signal that might lead them to any survivors and waited until Echo Squad reported in. It was pretty much an SSDD experience, until one of his crew members, the one who operated the sensors, woke him out of his thougts.

"Sir! We detected something on our sensors," she half-shouted. Captain Richard Stanford streightened himself in his chair and cleared his throat.

"What is it?" he asked, wondering if something interesting was going to happen now, both becoming cheerful at these thoughts and anxious. In his career he participated in only one space battle, and back then he didnt command a ship.

"Our scanners detected some kind of energy signature in Venatio's orbit. Its faint, barely there but we got it. The worst part of it is that its moving towards us, sir."

"Get me a picture," Stanford ordered. He turned his gaze to one of the screens, dreading to see a brute ship, only to see the vast blackness of space when the screen flickered to the signature. A minute passed where no one said a thing until the Captain broke the silence. "Are you sure its there?"

"Positive," she said with determination in her voice.

"Sir, incoming COM channel from Echo Squad," the COM officer announced.

"Patch them through," Richard said, not tearing his eyes away from the screen.

"_This is Echo Squad reporting,_" came in the gruff voice of the sergeant.

"This is the Captain of the_ New Age_, report."

"_There is nothing here sir. Alpha base is devoid of life, system was wiped. We suspect sentient beings involved. We still have two more bases to search, we might find survivors there,_" Leone said, causing a few raised eyebrows on the bridge. This was starting to look bad.

"Sir, what about the signature?" the woman asked, sending him a questioning glance.

"I see... check the scanners again, we're not taking any risks!" the Captain ordered the woman, who returned a nod and got back to work.

"_Sir?"_ the sergeant asked. The woman, he had to commend her for the speed she worked with, scanned again but after several moments shook her head. "Its still there and its getting closer."

"Its nothing you should worry yourself about. We just have some weird activity here, it could just be..." he trailed off, eyes widening to the size of dishes. The empty spot that was once on the screen turned into a ship. It was like watching someone pouring water over the ship, washing away the cloak. The ship was rather small, being around half the size of a frigate. For some reason, the shape of the ship reminded him of a fish. The next thing he noticed was the pair of brightly glowing spots on the sides of the ship. "oh shit!" he exclaimed when he realized what those bright spots were.

It was already too late to give any orders as the enemy ship already opened fire. Stanford's eyes widened even further when instead of the all-familiar plasma torpedoes a pair of bright blue – huge in size – plasma bolts flew at them at great speeds. Moments later he found himself on the floor as the ship was rocked from the collision. He turned his head to the fuzzy image of the enemy ship and saw that it was charging a third shot, this time from the center of the ship, where a canon like device could be seen.

"We've been hit!" he heard someone shout above the blaring alarm klaxons, knowing that it was a pretty obvious statement. "Shields are at eleven percents. We wont be able to take another hit," someone else added. Realization dawned upon the bridge crew at how bad the situation was. Grim and worried glances were exchanged in matter of seconds before the Captain opened a COM channel.

"Mayday, mayday, this is the _New Age_, we're going down -" he didn't manage to finish the distress call as the enemy ship unleashed another shot. This time it wasn't an oversized plasma bolt, but a beam. It made its way to the frigate in amazing speeds, hitting the ship in the blink of an eye and hitting the ship as if the remaining shields weren't even there.

This time a huge explosion rocked the ship and it went dark on the bridge for a few second before the emergency lights turned on. Everyone slowly stood up, quickly inspecting the damage. "Sir, we... lost the engines. The reactors are down. We're running on steam here. Lost contact with the rear section of the ship..." there was a pause. "Sir, we've been cleaved in half."

Stanford looked at each of his crew-mates before giving an order to evacuate the ship, and with that, they ran out of the bridge, making their way to the lifepods. Unfortunately, in the third hit the screens that showed the enemy ship went dark, leaving the occupants on the bridge unable to see the ship charging up another salvo of plasma, unable to see how the ship unleashed one of its enormous plasma bolts at the forward section of the _New Age_.

The unknown ship remained hovering there, above the remains of the forward section of the human frigate and then, just like it has arrived, the ship cloaked and disappeared without a trace.

* * *

When Echo Squad made it outside they were greeted by a horrifying sight. Pieces of the _New Age_ and other debris rained down into the atmosphere above them, giving the appearance that it was raining fire.

Damian wasn't sure if he should call himself a horrible person now, since he found the sight to be quite beautiful, in a kind of morbid and weird way. Within seconds realization dawned upon them and the awful reality of the situation they found themselves in. They were now stuck here, with whatever destroyed a fully shielded ship in mere seconds.

"_Mayday, Mayday, this is Foxtrot Lima Tango Zero-Nine, we're going down, we're going down!"_ a voice broke through their COM and Damian raised his head to see a bumblebee lifepod fly above them and disappear behind the jungle tree-tops. There was a muffled crashing sound seconds later and silence after that. He looked at the direction the lifepod crashed at, seeing the pack of birdlike creatures taking to the skies.

"Move out!" Leone barked and broke into a run towards the lifepod. There wasn't a need to tell them to prepare themselves for anything as the squad as a whole removed the safety from their weapons.

They quickly followed the sergeant into the jungle where they carefully, but at running speeds, moved through the foliage and other obstacles the jungle provided them. The lifepod crashed around two miles from their position. As they ran Damian's mind was running on overdrive. What could blow up a new UNSC ship in seconds? With the reverse engineered shielding technology they got from the Elites the UNSC shields were superior to most Covenant shielding. The only thing that might've done that would've been a Supercarrier but the chances of a Supercarrier being here were slim to none.

About halfway to the lifepod Leone ordered them to stop with a raised fist. Damian wondered why they stopped but seconds later he understood why. Gunfire echoed through the jungle, coming from the direction of the lifepod. He heard Brass mouth a loud "Shit!" before they broke into another run, much faster this time.

"Move it, move it! Double time!" Leone shouted, urging them on.

They kept running, stumbling once or twice on some roots that stuck out of the ground or crushing bushes that got in their way. They sounds of gunfire were lessening with every minute and after a two minutes or so, they were completely gone. As they were nearing the crash site they gradually slowed down until eventually they were carefully and silently walking through the foliage. Moments later the crash site was in their sight.

The bumblebee lifepod was overturned, the front side of it crashed into one of great trees of the jungle. There were no life signs in the vicinity. Damian looked through the scope of his BR55 to see if there was anyone there but the only things he saw were – he gulped at that sight, swallowing the dryness in his throat – dead bodies. They slowly moved around the crash site, searching for whatever killed the marines, weapons ready.

When they didn't find any trace of hostiles, or anything alive, in the vicinity, they approached the crashed lifepod. "Establish a perimeter," Leone ordered. The Kids, Mary, Sean and Akura left to do just that. Damian approached the lifepod with the Sarge and Jake. The first thing he noted was the way the dead bodies lied around, with empty rounds scattered all around. There were five bodies lying around, two of which had smoking holes in their chests, a third one was missing his head. Overall, it was a pretty bloody scene.

"Pilot's dead. Three more dead inside," Brass said as he inspected the smoking lifepod.

"I don't like this," Damian said quietly, looking from body to body. He was a helljumper. He was a bloody front-line soldier, not some mystery-solver.

"Me neither. Just look at this," Leone gestured at the scene. "They were shooting at all directions, as if they were surrounded but... there no blood, no bodies, nothing. As if these marines didn't even hit whatever attacked them, unlike their attackers."

Brass was inspecting one of the dead bodies, one that had a smoking hole in it's chest. "Its not regular covie weapons either," he added. "most of their weapons just burn. This one both burned and blew up his insides," he said grimply, raising his head to look at the surrounding jungle. Damian joined him. Whatever attacked the marines was still out there and it was apparent that they had advanced weaponry as well. Their situation was just the proverbial shit that hit the fan.

"Hey," Brass said in a hushed voice. "don't you have the feeling that you're being watched?" Damian thought about it and had to suppress a shiver when he felt that particular feeling. He gave him a nod and shouldered his rifle. There wasn't any harm in being ready for anything.

"Alright, there's nothing we can do here. Lets gather their weapons and ammo and see if there are any other survivors. Regroup," Leone barked into their COM frequency. The rest of the squad stepped out of the foliage and proceeded to gather the weapons and ammo. The dead wouldn't need them now. As the Squad was picking supplies Akura asked a question that caused every single one of them to freeze. "Where's Jimmy?"

Damian turned his attention from his dog-tag collecting to do a head count and to his horror, Akura was right.

There was no Jimmy in sight.

* * *

**A cliffy! I believe its the first one i used in this story. How lovely. Poor Jimmy, i bet you already know what is going to happen with him, you evil bastards. I know you want him to die, everyone does. Its always the Jimmy who dies. Heh, thats actually a private joke with one of my friends, who calls himself Jimmy. I used to annoy him with the fact that people named Jimmy always died in the movies. Anyway, im getting off-track here!**

**As for the "Unknown" ship. I'm not really sure of the sizes and everything and for all purposes, i made that ship up on the fly, since i never saw that ship. I only read the AVP novel and it was mentioned that the Yautja ship resembled a fish and that it was small but large enough to house a whole Yautja hunting party, which is around a dozen or more people. I honestly have no idea of the size but i believe that i used the ship mentioned in the novel. If anyone knows something about the ship, please inform me! I also saw some wierd Predator comic books... like Predator vs The Terminator, or Predator vs Batman... i mean, its a little wierd to see that stuff. Especially the Predator vs Superman and the Predaot vs Justice Legue. Although i did find out some quite amazing information about the Yautja, which i will hold onto until the right moment. :P**

**This chapter is rediculously short, which is highly annoying for me, since i know that i can do much better but i had only several hours to write this, and as i was tired i decided to cut the chapter in half, the other half being the next one. Hey, dont blame me for that. A guy needs sleep you know... Anyway, i hope i will manage to write the next chapter soon enough. And i did keep my promise of making sure to update within two weeks, didnt I? :P**

**Thanks you for reading this! I'm glad to know that you enjoy reading my work. I gladly accept constructive criticism, ideas, suggestions and your opinion on the story. Hell, you can just rant about something you read here, ill be happy to hear it :P. Until next time, Delvaro out!  
**


	8. Running and Gunning

**Hey, ****I****'m back! Yes, i am alive so you dont have to worry about me being dead. Like i have said earlier (month ago i think) i had a series of exams and i was pretty busy preparing for them so thats why i was delayed for so long. Anyway, once i was sover enough to write i still had some other small business to attend to but today i found the time to write and here ya go. We have a new chapter.**

**To my delight, this chapter is longer than usualy, which i love doing. Dont know why. I just do. Anyway, i wont delay you any further as i assume that many have waiting for this chapter since i left it on a cliffhanger (:O)! So have fun reading!**

* * *

"Echo eight, report!" Leone barked into their COM channel but received no reply. Leone looked at his squad and gave simple signal with his hand. As soon as they saw it they all raised their weapons and moved to his position.

"Echo eight, report," Leone tried again but still received no reply. "Damn it Jimmy, say something!"

"Fuck, I don't like this..." Damian heard Kyle mutter.

Damian mentally agreed with him. Whatever killed the people here was still here and if Jimmy's disappearance was any clue, they were close. The squad silently moved to his location, the sergeant repeatedly asking Jimmy to say anything. A sudden, loud rumble caused them to stop in their tracks. A large shadow passed over them, which caused them to look up to see the rear section of the _New Dawn _crashing down in a burning ball of flames, leaving a small trail of debris falling behind it. To Damian, the scene was breathtaking, both because in some morbid, sick way it looked magnificent and because of all the people that died aboard. It passed above them in seconds and soon disappeared from view, only to be heard crash down miles away with a loud roar of breaking metal and explosions.

"Over here..." came Jimmy's voice to their right. Surprising the squad, everyone turned to that direction, guns pointing. The voice was hoarse, weak, barely above a whisper.

"Jimmy?" Leone asked quietly but still, no response. The only possible explanation he could think of was rather grim: Jimmy was wounded and was unable to use their COM channel.

"Over here... help..." they heard it again, closer. Leone gave them a nod and they moved to Jimmy, slowly and carefully. It might be an ambush.

Several seconds later Sean gave them a signal to stop and everyone turned their attention to him. Damian approached him, flanked by Brass and Akura. When they reached him they saw him crouching on the ground fingering a small patch of dirt, soaked by something red... Damian immediately tensed and he knew that Brass and Akura did the same.

"Blood," Sean confirmed their suspicion. "Warm."

"Fuck," Brass muttered.

"Help me..." Jimmy's voice could be heard once again. The odd thing, the voice came exactly from their position, as if he was right there before their eyes but they couldn't see him.

"What the fuck..." Brass said under his breath as he raised his weapon and looked around. This was a very, very creepy situation.

"I think we shoul-" he was interrupted by a black object dropping right in front of him and into the blood-soaked ground. "Gah! Fuck!" he cried as he jumped back, aiming his carbine at what turned out to be an ODST helmet. Jimmy's helmet...

"Shit..." Kyle said aloud, pretty much voicing everyone's thoughts. Brass carefully approached the helmet while everyone was looking around, Kyle nearly jumping at any foreign sound. Once he was right by the helmet he crouched and reached out with one hand while holding his weapon with the other and picked up the helmet.

What no one expected was something to slide out of the helmet and drop to the ground with a sickening squelch. They all turned to look at the sight that chilled their bones as Jimmy's head rolled on the ground, a permanent expression of terror etched on his face.

Brass dropped the helmet and took several steps back until he had his back to Damian, who could hear the man's heavy breathing.

"Oh god, oh god, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" Kyle said breathlessly as he stared at the disembodied head of his friend.

"Get a hold of yourself!" Leone hissed as he stood beside the young helljumper in order to keep him in line. It was rather apparent that the kid was panicking.

They continued to stare at the head before something happened, something that would probably be etched into their memories until the day of their deaths and would probably keep them up at night with nightmares for several years from this day.

"Help me... over here..." Jimmy's voice said, once again very, very close to them. This pretty much send Kyle over the edge as he started pointing his weapon frantically to all directions and everyone's eyes to widen. It was obvious that Jimmy couldn't speak...

"What. The. Fuck?" Brass said weakly. Damian had to agree with the question.

Unfortunately, they never had the time to find out how he died, or search for the remainder of Jimmy's body since just at that moment, the sound of breaking branches of ruffled leaves interrupted all thought process just before a headless body crashed onto the ground right in front of Kyle. Another misfortune was Kyle's already frightened state and the landing of Jimmy's headless body made him forget all kinds of reason.

He raised his weapon and aimed it up and unleashed a barrage of bullets from his SMG. Mary joined him soon after, believing that he saw something. After several seconds they both stopped to see that the only thing they accomplished was a couple of mauled branches. Kyle was breathing hard, leaning against a tree, his SMG still help upwards. Leone approached him silently and delivered a vicious punch to his helmeted face.

"Are you fucking insane? You just told the whole freaking jungle that we're here!" the sergeant shouted, knowing that there was no point to keep quiet anymore.

Just then they heard an odd sound. A strange sounding clicking noise, somewhere between a growl and purr, coming from above them. They all froze at the sound of the strange noise, not one of them daring to move for a few seconds before they slowly inspected the area to see that nothing was there. Whatever made the sound was hidden well. Out of the corner of his eye Damian spotted something strange on Akura's head. He turned to fully face her and his eyes widened to the size of saucers when he saw three red dots in triangular formation moving over her head, coming to a stop right at her temple. At that moment, he simply acted and right at that moment, all hell broke loose.

It was as if time slowed down for him. He ran at her in full speed, saw her slowly turning to the sound of his rushed footsteps, heard an odd 'whoosh!' sound and a flash of blue somewhere above him and then he just tackled her out of the way. While that move probably saved Akura's life, the large blue plasma bolt – it couldn't be anything else – missed Damian's torso by inches and impacted the ground right by his legs. The plasma bolt then exploded once it hit the ground, much to Damian's surprise, showering his legs with unbearable heat and sending him flying ass over head. He landed painfully on his head several feet away from Akura's position, legs smoking. At that moment everything seemed to go to hell.

Through his blurry vision and brain clouded by pain he saw several of his squadmates, he couldn't tell who exactly through his clouded vision, firing at something above them and the occasional overgrown blue plasma bolt which missed and exploded on the ground. He wanted to help but he lost his grip on his rifle and at that moment he wasn't sure he could aim properly.

His vision was suddenly filled by a black shape. He shook his head to clear it and to his delight it worked and he managed to see Akura's face behind her depolarized visor, looking at him with fearful and worried eyes.

"Get up!" she screamed at him, her voice suddenly breaking through the cacophony of his surroundings. She started pulling him to his feet and he growled through the pain his slightly burned legs caused him. At least he could still stand.

She started pulling him away to the squad, who were firing wildly into the trees. He risked a look back only to see nothing. What were they shooting at? He pulled out his handgun as he couldn't see any trace of his rifle and finally managed to regain proper balance enough to walk by himself.

"Retreat!" Leone shouted, urging them away from the jungle. At that moment another plasma bolt ('Why are they so big?' he thought to himself) blasted the ground just a few feet away from the sergeant, leveling glassed dirt of slightly molten rock at him. Damian risked another look back, to see where the shot came from only to, once again, see nothing.

Once Akura and Damian caught up with the rest of the squad they threw all caution to the wind and broke into a run, occasionally turning around and letting off a few shots to the direction a plasma bolt came from.

"What the fuck are we shooting at?" Damian shouted through his gritting teeth as he jumped over a fallen tree and dived into the underbrush once he heard the telltale sound of a plasma bolt coming his way. He stood back up, pistol aimed and released several random shots to the direction the attack came from. He couldn't keep fighting like this. What the fuck was he even fighting?

"I saw one of the assholes!" Sean shouted as he ran beside Leone. "Big guys, cloaked!"

"Brutes?" Mary asked aloud as she took cover behind a tree as another plasma bolt sailed above her.

"I don't think so! These guys are on the fucking trees!" Sean replied, shooting at the tree tops from his carbine, his rounds tearing several branches apart.

Damian nodded to Akura who sent him a questioning glance as she ran beside him. He turned around briefly and released four more shots into the trees. At least now he knew where to shoot. All that was left was to hope that he hit something.

"Fuck it, just run!" Jake shouted over their gunshots. It took several seconds but everyone wholeheartedly agreed. They couldn't fight like this and at this rate they will be picked off one by one. Jimmy was just proof of that. He was just a couple dozen feet away from them and they didn't hear anything at all. How could you rip someone's head off in a completely silent manner? That unnerved Damian.

They just continued running, taking cover whenever another overgrown plasma bolt sailed by, too often too close to hitting. He wasn't sure how long they were actually running now but he took note that Leone was at least leading them to the direction of the base so he took comfort in that. The worrying part was that whatever was chasing them was still after them. Whatever they were they weren't brutes...he was sure of that. Brutes were usually less subtle than this.

He suddenly heard a weird whirling sound, accompanied by small, barely heard hum. He turned around just in time to see something small whirl its way towards his face. By instinct he dropped to the ground just as the thing, which he saw was disk-shaped, flew over him. He quickly rolled from his back and followed its trajectory to see that it was heading for Leone.

"Sarge!" he shouted in warning. The sergeant turned around to the sound of the shout and saw the whirling disk coming his way. Showing his decades of experience and his still-amazingly quick reflexes, he simply sidestepped the disk just as it was upon him, allowing it to sail just inches away from his neck and into the tree behind him.

Damian wasn't sure what he was expecting but he didnt expect the disk to _cut through the damn tree_. There was a loud 'crack!' and buzzing sound for a split second before the disk emerged from the other side of the tree as if it was never there. Both Damian and Leone remained rooted in place, dumbfounded as they stared at the tree, which slowly dropped to the side with a loud creak. Both Leone and Damian looked back at the disk which took an unexpectedly sharp turn and made its way back to them.

"What the fuck is this thing?" He shouted in outrage, unable to accept what he saw.

Leone rolled to the side and dodged the disk and Damian, from his position on the ground, simply rolled aside as soon as he saw the disk whirling its way to him. He barely managed to dodge the odd weapon this time as it impacted inches away from him, sending large pieces of the ground into the air as it bounced off the dirt and then continued on its way through _another _small tree as if nothing happened. Damian stood up and followed the disk to see it disappear into the high branches of the tree where the plasma bolts came from. He aimed his handgun in that direction and opened fire.

He was turning around from the series of 'shooting randomly in that direction' when he felt an intense pain in his left bicep and his who arm was sent forward. The pain that accompanied that movement told him that whatever he was hit with could probably tear off his arm if he was unlucky. Unfortunately, he stumbled and landed painfully on his face. He looked at his arm and saw a large, thin spike protruding out of his arm. His first thoughts was 'spiker!', which would've confirmed that they were indeed fighting brutes but at second glance he saw that it was longer, made from different alloy and wasn't superheated.

He felt someone's hand grab him under the armpit and pull him to his feet. He looked up to see Brass pulling him forward, shooting his assault rifle one-handed. Damian got to his feet and followed Brass. Leone threw a frag grenade into the jungle. Akura was unleashing a long series of shots from her handgun. Kyle was frantically spraying bullets into the tree tops. Mary added another grenade.

Sean was reloading at that moment and wasn't fast enough to see a plasma bolt sailing through the air. He managed to activate the PDG just in time. The round shield sprang up just as the bolt impacted it but to his dismay, the shield failed the moment the plasma bolt made contact and hit him right in his right shoulder.. Damian watched in amazement as Sean was sent spinning through the air to land with a thud on the ground and not move after that.

Brass ran up to him and lifted him over his shoulder and continued running with a single shouted phrase. "Just run! Fucking run like hell!"

They proceeded to do just that. They continued to run, this time not bothering to slow done to shoot back at them. They just ran, veering aside to throw their pursuers off course, which didn't work, and sometimes running in a zigzag pattern, which did help in some way. Leone eventually lead them to a large stone wall that belonged to the small plateau that was near the base. Damian felt some relief that they were getting closer. That relief was crushed when a plasma bolt zipped right in front of his face, causing his HUD to blur for a moment.

"In here!" Leone barked and Damian saw him standing in front of a small cave. They quickly filed inside, slowing down a bit as the cave entrance wasn't large enough to allow two of them to enter at the same time. Once they were inside they all crashed down to the rocky floor as Brass took out his shotgun and crouched near the cave mouth.

They sat in silence for several minutes, no one saying a thing, everyone just catching their breaths. Akura stood up after several minutes and joined Jake, taking her sniper rifle and using it to look outside.

"FUCK!" Kyle shouted, partially in rage and partially in dismay, punching the wall to let off some steam.

"Shut the fuck up!" Brass shouted back, glaring at the young man through his polarized visor.

"Fuck you! Jimmy is dead..." he said, more quietly this time.

"Shit happens, people die," Jake said simply. Jimmy didn't say anything after that.

Mary sent a glance at Damian from where she was tending to Sean's wounds and motioned him over. Damian stood up with a grunt and walked over to her, his legs feeling wobbly from all the running and the small burns they suffered. Sean's shoulder was a smoldered, still-smoking mess. He frowned at the burned hole at that right in the middle of his shoulder, exposing burned meat and some scorched bone.

"Give me your arm," she said to him evenly. He did as he was told, already prepared to what would come. She grabbed the spike that was imbedded in his arm and yanked it out in one fluid motion. He gritted his teeth but didn't make a sound at the pain. She then took one glance at his legs, which were a bit scorched. "They will be fine, nothing serious," she said before returning to Sean.

Damian nodded to her before returning to the spot he now occupied and crashed against the wall. Taking out a biofoam can he injected it into the wound, once again gritting his teeth at the stinging sensation.

"Are they still there?" Kyle asked.

"In case you forgot, they have active camo and we were unable to see them before. I still can't see them," Akura replied with some amount of bitterness. Kyle nodded and leaned back.

"What the fuck were those things?" Brass suddenly asked.

"Dunno, ain't brutes, that's for sure," Damian replied.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, the spike I was hit with wasn't superheated so its wasn't shot from a spiker. I could be wrong but since when do brutes jump around in trees?" He asked, somewhat heatedly. "And those plasma bolts aren't normal."

"Heh, you're kinda right about that," Jake replied with a chuckle.

"They can imitate voices," Akura added. Brass replied with an intelligent 'huh?' so she continued. "Haven't you noticed that we heard Jimmy after his head was...uh, ripped off?" she asked.

"Well yeah, I noticed that, pretty hard not to..." Damian muttered.

"Never heard of covvies using such things before," Kyle said, joining the conversation.

Damian gave him a sympathetic look behind his helmet. From years of fighting with people who his their faces behind helmets pretty much every single member of the squad could read body language. Poor kid's body language spoke of dismay and great depression. His shoulders were sagged and there was something in his voice, as if he was somehow broken. This was probably the first time Kyle lost a friend, if his reaction was an indication. They all lost friends, a lot of them. He couldn't imagine how many friends Leone lost, having fought humanity's most brutal war, from the beginning to the end. Some learned how to deal with it, some just grew distant from people, avoiding attachment to others. They probably didn't show it, but Jimmy's death affected them.

"What makes you think its Covenant?" Leone said, his words bringing uncomfortable silence to the cavern and bringing Damian's attention back to the conversation.

"What do you mean by that?" Mary asked, still busy bandaging Sean.

"Exactly what I said. This doesn't look like the covvies. They don't operate like this. Well, not now at least. I know that there were several Sangheili squads that operated like this."

"Yeah, you told us that story. They basically slaughtered a whole garrison without anyone realizing, right?" Brass asked, risking taking his eyes off from the entrance to look at the sergeant.

"Yep, that's exactly what happened but then, they used their energy blades. It was the classic 'slit your throat while you're not watching' scenario. Here they just overwhelmed us with plasma fire and those spikes they shoot."

"And those fucked up disks," Damian added, earning a nod from Leone.

"Disks?" Akura asked.

"Yeah, exactly what I said. There was a weird disk flying around there. I actually think it was a homing disk, nearly killed me and Sarge twice. Cut right through two trees," he said heatedly, still unable to get over the existence of such odd weapons. Plasma weapons? He got used to it. Growing up during a war against an enemy which used these weapons pretty much turned it into part of their lives. Flying homing disks that could cut through trees? That was a different story.

"Covvies never used these things," Leone said, his tone final. A moment of silence ensued as everyone processed what he was implying.

"So you want to tell me we have another aline race hellbent on eradicating us?" Kyle asked incredulously.

"You don't know how much I hope that this is just a bunch of weird covvies with weird weapons..." Leone summarized.

"You can't be seri-" Kyle began but was interrupted by their COM crackling. Everyone was silent, waiting.

"_Can anyone hear me? Is anyone alive?"_ A male voice said, whispering? It sounded... frightened? Panicked? The squad exchanged glances.

"What if its a trap? Like they did with Jimmy?" Kyle asked, his voice betraying his anxiety. This was a possibility. And the guy used the global channel, broadcasting to anyone available. What if this was a trick?

"_Please, if anyone can hear me, please respond..."_ the man said, the desperation in his voice nearly caused Damian to wince. They exchanged glances again, most of them aimed at Leone. After a minute of pondering he replied.

"This is Echo one of Echo squad, do you copy?"

"_Oh thank god,"_ the man said, the relief in his voice evident. _"yeah, I hear you. Is everyone alive?"_

"No, we lost one man. Whats the situation at your end?"

"_It's hell. I'm the only one left. We got into a lifepod but around ten minutes after we landed these... things came. They were everywhere, all around us. We didn't even know where to shoot. Pretty much everyone died and we started running away. There was another marine with me but I lost him... I don't think he's alive anymore. I'm hiding now,"_ the man finished, apparently a marine, defeat in his tone.

Leone sighed at the similar situation. "Same here. We're currently in cave, they didn't follow."

"_I see. I'm trying to contact any other survivors but I don't think we got that many. No one responded other than you."_

"Do you know where Research Base Alpha is?"

"_Yeah, I know where it is. If you're about to ask me to go there, there's no way in hell."_

"We're attempting to get to the base. Its safe there."

"_Huh, good luck with that. Those things are still out there, I know they are. I'm going to stay in my hidey-hole for a while. I'll try to get to the base once they stop looking for me."_

"How can you be sure that they are looking for you?"

"_They were upon us ten minutes after landing and they followed us when we ran. If its not a hunting party then I'm a freaking Elite. Listen, I know that the base is safer but I suggest you to lay low and wait it... shit!" _he nearly shouted the last word.

"Whats wrong?" Leone asked him.

"_Fuck, they know I'm here. Listen, stay in hiding and-" _there was a noise that sounded like a plasma bolt being fired before static filled the channel.

Several seconds of utter silence passed between the group. "Fuck, we didn't even get his name," muttered Brass.

"So what should we do?" Kyle asked.

Leone remained silent for several seconds before replying. "I still think we should get to the base. They might try to flush us out of here and I don't want to be trapped in a tight spot," he said, earning nods. "You have fifteen minutes to rest and after that we're going to the base. Its not far from here. Mary, try to wake up Sean, we cant afford to carry him, it will slow us down."

"Roger that," she said before she injected something into his bloodstream.

Soon after that Sean woke up and after several minutes where he groaned in pain, said many, many words that would even offend a brute and curse everyone for leaving behind his carbine he calmed down and allowed everyone to fill him in. Before everyone knew, their fifteen minutes were up and a tense atmosphere filled the small cavern.

"Do you see anything?" Leone asked.

"No, there is nothing that might indicate they are there. Under normal circumstance I would say the area is clear but here and now..." Akura replied.

"We cant stay here. Sean might not last long and the base has the needed medical equipment," Mary said. Leone stood there for a moment, obviously thinking. Finally, he picked up a rock of medium size and hurled it outside. The rock landed on the ground and rolled a few feet but nothing happened.

"You actually think this will work?" he heard someone say in a slightly exasperated tone, it was behind him but wasn't sure who exactly said that.

"like Mary said, we cant stay here," he said, frowning.

"I say we run for it," Brass offered.

They continued to bicker until it was decided that they will run for it. They stood at the mouth of the cave, Brass supporting Sean by his uninjured shoulder. They carefully climbed out of the cave, Leone in the lead, before breaking into a sprint.

Damian was running in the middle, inspecting the surrounding area as they ran, keeping close to the plateau wall. They were just about to pass beneath an overhanging large branch when he spotted it. It was large, around seven feet tall and its form was blurred, like shimmering air. He fought his share of spec. op. covvies and he knew how active camo looked like.

Without hesitation he aimed his handgun and released the whole clip into the figure. He was rewarded by an inhuman growl as he saw two small luminescent green spots appear on the form before it jumped away. "Run! As fast as you can!" He shouted as soon as he lost sight of it.

They doubled their speed as soon as the words left his mouth. They ran like their life depended on it, and it did. Behind him Damian heard an inhuman roar. It was incredibly loud, so loud that it probably echoed for miles from this location. When they heard it, they doubled their speed again. Kyle ran up to Sean and helped Brass carry the wounded man, sometimes picking him up and leaving his feet to dangle beneath him.

"Almost there!" He heard Leone shout, which brought some amount of relief to the squad.

A plasma bolt exploded near Leone, which caused everyone to scatter. This patter continued for a minute or two, everyone scattering, unexpectedly veering aside. A plasma bolt nearly reached Leone but he turned on his PDG when it was several feet away from him. The shield survived the hit but it sent Leone to the ground. He rolled with the fall and within a blink of an eye was again on his feet.

Mary picked up more speed when the gate of the base came into view. Leone turned around and started blindly firing his assault rifle with Damian and Akura joining him. Within seconds the gate started slowly opening and Kyle and Jake, now fully carrying Sean, slipped in. The last trio broke into a run and rushed inside. By the time they entered the doors were already closing but not fast enough. Two plasma bolts slipped inside, narrowly missing Leone's head and hitting the wall behind him.

The doors closed with a dull thud, leaving them in silence the dim lights of the corridor.

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**Heh, damn, i love this chapter. Things are really starting to roll now :D. Heh, poor Jimmy. You know, i got the idea of the 'head slipping out of helmet' thing from Star Wars, really i did. Remember Episode II? Where Boba Fett's father had his head lopped off? And then we see young Boba pick his father's helmet up? Well, me and my friends pretty much laughed our asses off when we imagined if young Boba picked his father's helmet and then his dad's head will pop out with a comical 'pop!' sound. That will probably scar him for life. We laughed so hard. Yeah, we're horrible people, we know.**

**Anyway, thank you for reading this story. I'm very glad that you loved it so far and continue reading this. I gladly accept constructive criticism, ideas and suggestions. You can simply point out a flaw or something that you didnt like and I will be glad to hear your opinion so dont stalk in the dark and tell me what you think. :) Until next time, which wont be so long, Delvaro out!**


	9. Rest

**Sorry it took me this long! I simply had an annoying writer's block... well, blocking me and an unexpected illness which left me bedridden. Regardless, I am back once again with a new chapter, albeit a much shorter one. Anyway, i dont have anything else to say so enjoy this chapter!**

By the way! Thanks for all the reviews you gave me so far, it helps me as an author in the long run, so thanks! ^^

* * *

1415 Hours, February 7, 2563 (Military Calendar) / Planet Venatio / Research Base Alpha

The mood was awful, and that was putting it lightly. Jimmy's death affected everyone, Kyle most of all. Once they returned to the safety of the base Kyle stormed off to somewhere and no one stopped him. Brass was yelling and raging around while the rest helped Mary get Sean into the medical wing to treat his burns.

At that time, Kyle walked around aimlessly, not noticing, nor caring where he was going. He wasn't a rookie, no ODST was green, having _some_ experience in battle was a must if you wanted to join the helljumpers. He couldn't help but feel angry at how... calm they were but he stopped himself from thinking along those lines. He knew that all the squad other than him and Jimmy, now only him, were effectively veterans. All of them survived through the last years of the Covenant-Human war, Leone surviving through the whole war since its beginning. He knew that he was being a fool to even consider that they haven't felt that damned feeling of loss. Pretty much everyone lost friends before and Kyle guessed that he just popped that cherry today.

Now that he thought about it, of the whole squad only He and Sean had homes to return to and families waiting for them. Akura, Jake and Damian lost their families when the planets they lived on were glassed. Mary was an orphan since she remembered herself, saying that she joined the UNSC as soon as she could. Leone simply said that his family was long dead, never telling much more and everyone respected his wishes and left the issue alone.

The anger suddenly came back when he remembered Jake. They met during boot camp and became friends soon after and decided to join the ODST after a while. The only battle they ever participated in was a small skirmish against a Brute outpost planet. They won that battle with minimal losses and soon later they applied for the ODST and eventually ended up in Echo Squad.

The subject of death was rather often thought of and he often wondered when he will die. He recalled his first battle, how he was scared shitless but he prevailed. Somehow, he always expected to die in some huge battle, fighting for something important and making a change... not like Jake, dying in silence without anyone knowing by whatever-the-hell it was that killed him on some god-forgotten planet.

These thought lead him to think of why he joined the UNSC in the first place. He could say that it was because of revenge, sense of duty and following the footsteps of his father. His father was a marine during the war and came out of it alive, unlike many other. The downside of it was that he didn't come out in one piece. A plasma grenade that landed too close to him left him without and arm and a leg and the whole right side of his body covered in burn scars. He practically grew up on stories about the Covenant, the battlefield and some friends that he had when he served in the army. All this probably fed his decision to join the army and fight the bastards who left his father a cripple... and some stupid ideas of heroic battles.

During all this time he never looked where he walked and he flinched when he heard someone call his name. Looking up he saw that he somehow ended up walking into the control room and Damian was looking at him expectantly.

"Uh, what?" he asked dumbly.

"I asked how you are feeling," Damian repeated. Kyle looked around the room, seeing only the sergeant, Brass and Damian there. The other must still be in the infirmary.

"Honestly? I feel like crap," Kyle said with a sigh, collapsing into one of the chairs and removing his helmet, his nostrils detecting the smell of the cigarettes that Brass and Leone were smoking.

Damian nodded, somewhat sagely. "Don't know if its a good thing or not but...you get used to it," he finished quietly. "... Somewhat."

Kyle looked at him for several seconds wondering exactly how many friends Damian lost before he felt a nudge on his soldiers. He looked at the source to see the surprisingly docile Jake offering him one of his smoke-sticks. "Here," he said quietly.

Kyle took it and placed it into his mouth, allowing Brass to light it up with an ancient-looking lighter. He took a long puff, feeling the burning sensation moving through his lungs before he started coughing. He never smoked before and hadn't expected it...

Brass snickered for a second at his misfortune before allowing the room to return into silence. They stayed like that for several minutes until Akura stepped into the room, helmet held in her arm and a severe frown on her face.

"How is he?" Leone asked, looking at her from the corner of his eye.

"He'll live. Shoulder busted though so he wont be able to properly use his arm for a while," she stated in monotone.

"Like you said, he'll live," Leone said with a huff and after that silence again descended on everyone.

Akura remained standing at the door looking around them. Several minutes passed before she lifted her helmet and threw it to the floor with an uncharacteristic growl. Everyone was startled from their musing to look at her with surprised and somewhat scared wide eyes.

"What the fuck was it back there?" she shouted-half-growled at Leone, he finger pointed in the general direction of the main gate.

Leone watched her with widened eyes. Her behavior surprised him greatly. The last time he saw her act like this was thirteen years ago when they got a case of _really_ bad intel, which resulted in nearly the whole squad dying and losing some members. She was usually cool and collected and it was unlike her to lose her temper like this.

"You're asking me?" he replied gruffly.

"Yes, I am!" she growled. "What the fuck was that? That's not covenant, that I know for sure," she said angrily.

"How can you be so sure?" Kyle joined the one-sided argument, since Leone wasn't faced by Akura's shouting.

"Trust me, I know. I was doing this before you even started elementary," she replied, turning her frowning face to the youngest member of the squad.

"Akura, don't vent on him," Damian broke into the conversation, his voice calm. The woman turned her glare on him but he wasn't fazed by it.

"They don't operate like this, we established it already. Trust me, I saw enough Elite Spec Op squads and they don't do things like this. We were...we were fucking hunted!" she said after tearing her gaze away from Damian, much calmer this time. She then turned her gaze at Leone. "You know something we don't, am I right?"

Leone looked at each one of them, who were looking at him with some measure of anger in their eyes. "No, didn't know anything about this," he said with a sigh. "Wish I knew, believe me. The only need-to-know info I received was about an interesting life form, extremely dangerous which is suspected to cause the disappearance of everyone here...now, I'm not so sure," he finished with a huff.

"Life form? What life form?" Akura asked.

"Just some kind of animal they found here years ago. They've been studying it for years now. The only thing I know about it is that its extremely dangerous and that the higher-ups suspected an outbreak caused the base to send the distress signal. There was nothing about sentient aliens here..."

"I see," Akura muttered and relented, leaving the room without another word. Damian released a tired sigh before he followed after her.

They all sat in silence, thinking about their situation. "Fuck!" Brass suddenly spat, causing Kyle to look at him, questions dancing in his eyes.

"We're stuck here. The ship was blown up, we have those fuckers outside and I have no idea how long it will take for reinforcements to get us out of this shit, if they will even manage to do that..." Brass muttered the last part.

"They did take out the ship very quickly... makes me wonder how powerful whatever killed them was," Leone added, rubbing his chin.

"So what are we going to do?" Kyle asked the most important question. Jake and Leone shared a look before the sergeant replied.

"There's not much we _can_ do. In all honesty, we're pretty much screwed here. We have to dig in, wait for reinforcements. I'm not going to risk the outside for a while. We have no idea how many of them are there and what we are facing anyway," he said grimmly.

"So... we're stuck?" Kyle asked weakly.

"That's right. Good boy, I knew you had a brain in there somewhere," Jake answered with a small smirk. At least Brass was returning to normal...

* * *

Akura angrily stormed through the hallways, Damian silently following behind. Where was she going, why she was going there was completely unknown. Probably because she didn't know it herself. Much like Kyle earlier, she was wandering aimlessly, possibly to relieve some stress.

To say that she was pissed would be an understatement but at least she was calming down now. Damian gradually caught up with her and walked at her side.

"Anything to say?" he asked her.

"What do you want?" she replied angrily.

"Look, I know that everyone is a bit shaken now but don't vent your anger on us," he replied, his tone showing his annoyance.

"They were hunting us down there, you heard that guy we spoke to. He told us they were hunting everyone down. Covenant aren't that subtle. Jimmy was dead and we haven't even noticed it!" she said, stopping to a halt and fully facing him now. "That wasn't the covenant."

Damian sighed at her words. He couldn't deny them at them after all. Not enough proof to figure out whether she was wrong or right but she had some truth in her reasoning. The covenant, especially the brutes were more... blunt than this.

"Understand, that we might have a first-contact situation here and its completely fucked up," she said, more subdued this time. "Humanity cant handle another war like the last one..." she finished, saying the last part under her breath.

To her surprise Damian chuckled darkly, making her to look at him with confusion. "Nothing funny really, just makes me wonder if we will meet a friendly alien race," he said, his face wearing a strange expression between a frown and a smirk.

"True, makes you think, doesn't it?" she asked him, leaning against the wall. Damian quickly joined her.

"About what?"

"About our unfortunate situation," she said bitterly. "I wonder if this will escalate to a war."

"Hey, don't start on that, we don't really know anything about whatever attacked us. It might be the covvies attempting something new for all we know," he assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I hope so..." she trailed off from there. "I just don't want another war."

"Me too," he said, pushing himself off the wall and starting to walk back to the control room, leaving Akura alone with her thoughts. "me too."

Akura once told him about her upbringing. She was raised in a happy family with two sisters, being the middle one. Life was good, everyone was happy. She called it paradise. Until the Covenant came at least. She told him that she was one of the several hundreds that they managed to evacuate. She watched how her planet was glassed, along with her home and everything she knew. She spent months searching for her sisters and parents but there was no trace of them anywhere, which left only a single conclusion. Her family never left the planet.

Damian always found it a bit strange and ironic that Akura was a pacifist at heart. She hated war, she hated the battles, yet she was a soldier. She once told him that the reason she joined the UNSC was because she wanted to stop the war that claimed so many lives and homes. He could relate to that in some way.

Regardless of everything, they were stuck now so he guessed that they should plan something to either get out of this planet, or a good way to pass time.

* * *

Ave'gaar gazed at the large gate that the Oomans went through to escape them. The hunt was good so far and the prey was even better. They exceeded his expectations greatly. They manage to kill only one of them, luring him away from the others before silently killing him. What he didn't expect was for the others to escape them mostly unscathed. One of them even injured one of his warriors with their small burners, nothing too serious as the warrior simply shrugged it off.

Their ship was gone and all who escaped in their Tyioe-ti were hunted down with success. It was a good day, mostly. The black Ooman's managed to escape into that facility and that presented a problem. They could follow them inside but that could be even more problematic. He knew how dangerous a cornered animal could be and in the narrow tunnels beneath the ground they weren't as effective as outside within the trees.

A sudden tremor and a thud going through the ground alerted him that someone landed beside him. He turned to look at the uncloaked hunter, cocking his head to the side.

"Some Oomans escaped. They will not last long though, they are still in the jungle. We will find them soon," the hunter, Cha'kun'da he now recognized, stated.

Ave'gaar huffed at his words. If not brave warriors, the Oomans were certainly resourceful. Any being that managed to escape a Yautja hunter deserved some measure of respect. When the Cha'kun'da remained there Ave'gaar regarded him again, his mandibles clicking in annoyance. "Anything else?"

Cha'kun'da seemed to hesitate, something that Ave'gaar noticed if the low growl coming from him was any indication. "They have killed one of our hunters."

At those words Ave'gaar rounded on the younger Yautja, glowering over him. To his credit, Cha'kun'da didnt back down and remained rooted to his spot, knowing well that if he backed down he will be in pain.

"One of the burners managed to pierce his throat. A mortal wound." Cha'kun'da said simply, controlling the tone of his voice to show calmness.

For a second Cha'kun'da suspected that Ave'gaar will hit him in anger, betraying his anxiety by tensing and preparing to defend himself when the older warrior turned away from him with a short hiss filled with anger.

Cha'kun'da lamented his situation. It was just his amazing luck that he was chosen to bring the message to Ave'gaar. Unfortunately, this wasn't the worst message he carried. This time he fully braced himself for an attack. Ave'gaar was always more...violent that the others.

"Anything else?" Ave'gaar asked, the clicking of his mandibles filling the air seconds later.

"They stripped him. Took his burner and other equipment," Cha'kun'da said, quickly and to the point. To his surprise, instead of an attack a rumble arose from the the elder Yautja.

"So they collect trophies now? How interesting..." he said, mostly to himself. "If you find him, retrieve whatever he took," he barked the last part.

At this, Cha'kun'da left the older Yautja to himself. He had the remaining Oomans to find. _'Good hunt,'_ he mused to himself as he fingered the small net-sack where two bloody Ooman skulls hanged.

Ave'gaar ignored the hunter's departure, instead preferring to look at the gate. It didn't matter if they hid there or not. They will not, could not, stay there forever. When they will come out, they will be there to meet them. Besides, it was not as if these Oomans were the only prey on this planet.

* * *

**Hehehe, yeah, this chapter is finished. Shorter than usual but meh... the bloody block annoyed the hell out of me so at least i'm finally out of it. As you've seen in this chapter, i gave some background! And be sure that I will do so again. I'm not planning to have the other characters to just 'be there'. I plan them to be real, lovable characters that you could actually care about. Anyway, the plot escalates and so far, the situation has calmed. The Yautja began their hunt and so far, things arent looking good for our lovable Echo Squad. **

**Thanks for reading my story! I really appreciate it and I'm always glad to see when someone adds it to their fav list or alert. If you notice any flaws, or anything that you believe is a mistake, feel free to point it out. I gladly accept constructive criticism, ideas, suggestions of just regular, run-of-the-mill comments. Leave them in a review or a PM, ill be glad to have them. Thanks again and until next time, Delvaro out.**


	10. Into the Howling Dark

**Booyah! I'm back and alive! Yeah, it took me a while but I've been honestly busy. I'm in my last year in my academy so my workload was trippled. So far, in two months I had to write seven essays and other stuff. So yeah, I didnt really have time to write anything. Also, the last three weeks, while I have been mostly free, were occupied with Battlefield 3 (Cant blame me for this! The game's awesome!) and reading the latest Halo novel (Halo: Glasslands, in case you're interested. The sort-of Sequel to Ghosts of Onyx). So yeah, now that I finished the novel I finally made the time to write this brand new chapter. Sorry it took me so long! **

**Now, this chapter is not as long as I at first assumed (it looked much longer when I was writing it) but I dont really care at the moment. It's 2AM and I barely got any sleep this week and my eyes are killing me at the moment. I double checked for weird typos so I'm sure I fixed all the stuff I could find. But then again, I am sleepy and I might've missed something. If you do spot something, feel free to notify me so I could fix it.**

**Now, enjoy this new chapter! I worked for many hours on it! :D  
**

* * *

1300 Hours, February 8, 2563 (Military Calendar) / Planet Venatio / Research Base Alpha

A day. Twenty four hours, or in this case, twenty six hours. Damian has been in a situation like this before but he never expected that simply sitting on your ass underground for a whole day with nothing to do, while the enemy was doing god knows what outside, would be so torturous. After all, for all he knew, they could be attempting to open the door at this very moment and they were none the wiser. The exterior cameras were offline or most probably missing so they were blind to the outside world. Any message they tried sending came unanswered and no one tried to contact them so it meant two things: either everyone outside decided to maintain radio silence...or they were already dead. That wasn't a cheerful thoughts.

_Happy thoughts, happy thoughts. You don't want to be depressed now and ruin the mood for everyone._

Not that he actually needed to try. The mood was already utter shit. Kyle was sulking around, preferring everyone to leave him alone, so he volunteered to patrol the corridors most of the time. Leone and Brass constantly argued over what they should do. Should they stay here and try to contacting the other bases or find another way out. None of them were keen on going outside. Mary was pissed that nothing seemed to properly work and that the system was so thoroughly and violently wiped. The only ones who seemed to act the same as usual were himself and Akura. Then again, he was able to see the changes in Akura anyway. She was more agitated. Kept slightly jumping at the slightest unexpected noise. It was barely there, invisible to someone who didn't know her.

The only good news they had was that Sean was up and about.

Mostly anyway. He seemed to be a little bit out of it. He tried acting normal but whenever he was sure no one was looking or listening, Damian caught him muttering to himself or looking at his injury with a hideous cringe. The most prominent word he caught was 'demons'. When he was asked about it he gave a quick explanation to him. The small plasma bolt exploded when it hit him and truthfully, without the armor he would've lost his arm. As he passionately said: 'It's one thing to burn you and its another thing to blow you up but doing both at the same time is pure evil. It ain't no covvies man, even they don't do this shit."

_At least we can be sure it's not covvies now._

Not that there was a Covenant anymore. With the end of the war the Covenant disbanded and all the races went on their own merry way. The Brutes went to do more fighting for whatever reason they had, Jackals went back to being traders and pirates and the Elites back to their Sanghelios. Where the hell the Grunts, Drones and Engineers went is anyone's guess. The Jackals were probably selling Covenant tech to some outer Human colony that no longer wanted anything to do with the UNSC.

Nowadays it was practically impossible to encounter some organized groups, other than some backwater planets where the aliens never realized that the Covenant was no more. When the Covenant fell, so did their supply lines, COM systems, everything. For an almighty advanced collection of alien races, they were quite dependent on each other. Remove one race and the whole system crashes. With the Engineers gone, no one repaired their ships and equipment, no one brought them new armaments, supplies other than Jackals, and they traded with _anyone_ who wanted to trade. Of course, if they hadn't killed him first.

After nearly thirty years of war and fighting them for so long, it felt kind of strange not to call them the Covenant. Even after a decade, plenty still called them like that, even though now they were individual races.

At the moment Damian was patrolling the corridors. There wasn't much to do, other than staring at the empty corridors and dusty floors but if whatever crawled through the ventilation shafts came back, someone needed to know where it was. Also there was the danger that whatever was outside might try to get on, or worse, was already inside. They weren't taking any risks. Damian didn't argue. He was edgy about the situation as it was. Fighting the known aliens was familiar. There was a patterns. You shot them, and they died. You knew where to shoot, how much to shoot and to tell if it was dead. Whatever was attacking them here was completely and utterly unknown. Unknown was not something he liked.

He would've continued his mental rant about how much he hated this situation, all the while trying to find other words for 'hate' in all the languages he knew, had he not heard the new Leone vs. Brass argument in the control room.

"... Well, the armory's on the third floor, including the barracks and other labs," he heard Leone say. Calmly, not in the gruff, growl-like voice he usually used when he was arguing over something. Maybe they weren't arguing after all. "We need to resupply anyway."

"Yeah, but what if it was locked away for a reason? What if whatever is down there is worse than what's outside?" Brass countered, speaking slowly as if Leone wouldn't understand him if he spoke faster. "What if the guys here didn't want to take their chances with what's down there and instead simply left?"

"And left all their food supplies and all their belongings here? No, if they would've left, they would have taken it with them. They had the time to weld that door shut, which means they had time to gather supplies, which they didn't do."

At that moment Damian entered the control room where he saw the two man sitting in front of the empty screens. The only screen that had something on was the screen in front of Mary. He was never all that tech savvy. Other than knowing the basics, he never bothered to learn much else. He had more important things to worry about, like overzealous aliens who wanted to wipe him out. They ignored him and continued with their conversation/argument.

"Well, I still don't want to take my chances outside. It doesn't mean that I want to find out _why_ they welded that door shut. I'm all for the armory but what if-"

Brass was interrupted by a loud and ecstatic shout from Mary. "Yes! Finally!" she exclaimed, pumping her fists into the air and proceeded to do something which looked like some deformed and unorganized victory dance from a sitting position. It was at that moment that she realized that all attention was turned to her. She met the questioning gazes with a dazzling grin. "I managed to find what remained of the system. Its a very patchy job, obviously not done by an expert..."

She was about to ramble on but Leone held up a hand. "And why is this making you so happy?"

Mary rolled her eyes. "the distress signal had to come from somewhere, right? It came from _this_ base," she paused, looking at them expectantly, waiting for them to say something. Brass looked at Damian, hoping to see an answer but was met with the same confused expression and a shrug. Mary realized that no answer was coming and rolled her eyes again. "If the system was damaged and wiped, it means that the distress signal is still there. I just had to find it. Whoever set up the distress signal made a patchy job, but they did set up a secondary system, regardless of how frail it is,"

"And...?" Brass asked in length, wondering what she was getting at.

Mary scoffed, obviously annoyed. "Luddites," she muttered, getting an indignant glare from Brass. Damian just rolled his eyes with a smirk. Leone showed no outward reaction to her words. "I'll explain it for you in your manly caveman language. The distress signal came from this very base, its still up and I know where exactly it comes from."

This seemed to make Leone perk up. Without further prodding Mary continued, her victorious smirk now gone. "Third floor."

Those two words were enough to settle them all into uncomfortable silence. Brass hung his head in defeat while Leone firmed his jaw. Damian sighed in resignation. From one shitty situation to another. This gave Leone another reason to go down there. If he was going to admit it, Damian was freaking by the lower floors.

_Brass has a point, what if they closed it for a good reason?_

Either way, they were going down. ODST never refused missions, it was just like that and once Leone set his sights on something, he will get it. However, that didn't mean they had to like it. Then again, he was getting frustratingly bored.

"We're really going to do this?" Damian asked, speaking for the first time.

"Yeah, we're going down there and hope whatever is down there wont bite off our asses," Leone replied.

"Permission to feel reassured, sir." Damian said, stone-faced, showing no expression.

"Granted, now go and gather everyone and do it fast. The longer we sit here on our asses the more time we give the enemy time to plot!"

With a nod Damian left the room, walking in a swift pace to the location where Akura last patrolled and from there he will pick up Kyle and Sean.

He found her in five minutes as she seemingly aimlessly walked though a corridor. He quickly explained the situation to her and they quickly moved to the room where Sean was staying. Kyle would probably be there as well. His guess was proven right when they entered the room, which became their unofficial sleeping quarters. Sean was tinkering with his Covenant carbine, doing whatever he was doing with it while Kyle was taking a nap against the wall.

Damian lightly kicked Kyle's boot, startling the man from his slumber. He looked around frantically, a hand resting on his weapon, before he realized that nothing was attacking him. "Come on, Sarge wants to see us," he greeted and turned around to leave, quickly followed by Akura. Kyle exchanged a glance with Sean and got up with a groan and ran to catch up with the duo, followed by the silent Sean.

"What Sarge's up to?" Kyle asked when he caught up with Damian.

Damian didn't look at him. He knew that Kyle was nervous enough as it was, this being his first shitty situation, and he didn't really want to make him even more nervous. He was depressed enough as it was but it couldn't be helped. Kyle was an ODST. He wouldn't be one if he couldn't handle such a situation, first mission or not. "We're probably going down to the third floor," he said tonelessly.

Kyle's eyebrows rose to his hairline. "Why?"

"The distress signal came from the third floor. Whoever set it up might still be there. The armory is there too and we're not exactly full of ammo," he explained shortly. "Sarge will explain the rest."

Kyle looked at him for several seconds before he steeled his features and gave him a firm nod. The corners of Damian's lips quirked a bit, glad to see that Kyle still had something left in him. It was always hard to see a friend die for the first time. In some aspect, the lucky ones witnessed it during a battle. At that time, one doesn't have the time to grieve, or think about it too much. In a battle it was a distraction that you couldn't afford. Jimmy on the other hand...was too sudden. They didn't even know _when_ he died, they never even noticed that he was gone in the first place.

The rest of the journey continued in silence and the only words they said were a couple of greetings to the Sarge and Brass when they entered the room. They all took whatever seats they could find, some taking seats on the table when all the chairs were taken. Leone stood in front of them and gave them a long look before he spoke.

"Alright boys and girls. We have a choice to make here. Mary here found out where the distress signal came from. Unfortunately, it comes from the third floor. Now, before you interrupt me with whatever you have to say, I probably already heard it from a certain squadmate," he gave a pointed look at Brass, who didn't shy away from it. "we still need to go down there. Rescue's not coming anytime soon and I'll probably go insane if we stay here and lay low. We still have a mission."

"Find out what happened here and where everyone disappeared to," Akura supplied.

"Got that in one," Leone said to her with a nod. "I don't know about you, but I don't leave a mission unfinished. So gear up and lets go and find us some scientists!" he barked out, urging them to get up faster.

The next minutes were a flurry of movements, squadmates moving about, picking up their equipment, weapons and whatever else they left lying around, which happened to be a cigarette pack in Brass' case. When it was all over, they silently moved towards the door. Once they arrived Sean took out his welding equipment and handed it over to Brass, since he still couldn't properly use his arm. It wasn't an awfully long process, though it was still too long in Damian's opinion. It took about fifteen minutes for Brass to cut open a doorway for them. When Brass was done he folded up the equipment and placed it back into Sean's rucksack. He pulled on his helmet, polarizing his visor and gave a nod to Leone. They both approached the door and grasped the new edges and pulled it towards themselves. Damian and Kyle quickly helped them place the piece of metal as quietly as they could on the floor while Mary and Akura pointed their weapons into the now-open doorway. There was no reason to make a ruckus when they could avoid it.

They quickly stood up, pulled out their weapons and approached the doorway. Much to Damian's dismay, the stairway lead to a very dark hallway. _Just __what __I __need. __Running __around __in __dark __corridors __with __possibly __hostile __aliens __lurking __about. _With that thought in mind, he followed Leone and Brass down into the dark, closely followed by the others. The only positive thing that Damian could see in this situation was that their BDU's allowed them to blend in the dark, making it hard to see them properly.

As soon as he entered the dark corridor everything brightened a bit as his HUD entered low-light mode, which brightened his mood a bit as well. At least now he was able to see better. A few seconds later any remnants of positive mood vanished.

If the floor above them could be described as abandoned, as in, the inhabitants leaving the place quietly without leaving any trails, this floor was an utter mess. To make matters worse, there were signs of battle visible in every direction he looked. The squad paused there, looking at the scene, searching for any clue to tell them what happened. Bullet holes were in practically every wall in sight. Empty casings littered the floor, along with empty clips that were discarded once they were useless. From this position Damian could see three more melted holes on the floor, smaller that the one upstairs but still nothing to tell them about the source. At this point, they were sure that no fire was returned at the shooters. Leone silently signaled them to follow as he took the lead and moved further into the dark corridors. The same scene appeared again and again, bullet holes in the walls, empty casings, sometimes they could see dark stains on the floors and walls of various sizes. Id didn't take a genius to understand what it was. Dried blood. It looked like a large battle took place in this place but one detail was unnerving Damian the most, a feeling that was shared by the rest of the squad.

There were no bodies in sight.

It left them to assume that two things happened. A battle took place and the personnel here retreated without casualties, although there was a slim chance to that with all the dried blood the saw so far. What happened to the bodies though...it was a mystery for now. They would've taken the injured with them, or whoever attacked them took the bodies. They passed by a particularly large bloodstain, which made Damian conclude that whoever bled this much was probably dead by now.

Leone finally lead them out of the entrance corridor into the main floor, where all the rooms were held. Leone paused at an intersection of corridors before he presumably picked a direction at random and turned left.

Most of the doors were unlocked and left open, allowing the squad to see the mess that was inside. Tables were overthrown. Datapads, papers and other various items were scattered across the floors, one room – which they decided to avoid – had a particularly large and gruesome-looking bloodstain on the wall.

A sudden noise caused every single on of them to turn to the direction they heard it from, weapons raised and fingers on the triggers. When they saw nothing the immediately looked around. Guns pointed up, to the sides and even at the floor in Leone's case.

"What was that?" Brass whispered quietly, even though everyone knew that there was no need to whisper since their helmets were sound-proof and no one on the outside would be able to hear what was said, unless the wearer wanted them to. This allowed them to speak on any volume they wished, though at the moment not one of them wanted to speak loudly.

"I dont know. Sounded like a...shuffle. Something moved," Leone told him quietly. "I think it came from there," he said and slowly, carefully and as quietly as possible moved towards the door closest to them.

When Leone was just two steps away from the door the noise repeated and they could hear it clearly this time. Something indeed moved in the room. Leone signaled them to prepare themselves and Damian and Brass took positions on both sides of the door. In one fluid movement Leone opened the door and Damian and Brass rushed in, weapons leading. Inside they found nothing, which slightly disappointed Damian.

_How__ cliché.__ All __this __build-up __for __an__ empty __room_, he lamented. He hated these situations. Give him something to shoot and he will be happy with it. That way he could kill it and get rid of it. Right now he was stumbling in the dark.

However, upon closer inspection, the room wasn't as empty as they first thought. In the middle of the room was a bloodstain and exactly in the middle of what was one a puddle of blood, was a datapad, still turned on.

Mary stepped into the situation, picking up the datapad, wiping away the crusted blood from the screen and taking a look. No one stopped her from doing that. She was their tech expert after all. "Sarge, this looks like a journal, though this log looks like it was never finished..." she trailed off, glancing at the dried blood. Everyone understood what she meant.

"What does it say there?" Sean asked as he looked around the room nervously.

Mary scrolled down the datapad, her eyes swiftly scanning the screen and filing away information. "Not much. Several logs, beginning last year and ending about...two months ago," she glanced at the crusted blood again. "which probably was when the guy lost this."

Damian placed his hand out to Mary and she handed him the datapad, no longer interested in it. He fiddled with it a bit, looking at whatever was there. As Mary said, it was used solely as a journal for the owner and other than several logs, there was nothing in it. He scrolled to the first log and opened it.

_August 20, 2562._

_Damn marines. I swear they are just messing with us. Some of the guys are nervous now and few are now refusing to go outside. I'll admit that I'm nervous too. Doc suggested that I should write something in this piece of useless crap to 'relieve my stress and let out all my pent up emotion.'_

_I'm fine dammit. I don't have pent up emotions!_

_Why am I even writing this? I might as well since I already started this thing and I hate leaving things unfinished. Damn marines. Since we weren't resupplied in years they have to go outside to get us food in order to keep our proper supplies from running out. I'll admit that the 'Rhino' meat is delicious though I fear we wont be getting it soon. The marines are insisting that there's something out there in the jungle. They cant see anything but they feel that they're being watched._

_The spook told them to calm down and that there's no danger to anyone and that we should go back to our jobs. I hope things will calm down soon. Even the marines are a bit edgy._

Nothing impressive as far as journals went, in Damian's opinion. Nothing interesting like who slept with who, who cheated on who, who was caught in the supply closet with their pants down, literally. Or more importantly what they were doing in this place. It was a journal of a guy who wrote his thoughts: the most boring kind of journals. However the whole 'being watched' thing that the marines experienced was all too familiar. It made him curious. He scrolled to the next entry and opened it.

_September 2, 2562._

_Things calmed down after about a week after my first entry but last night the shit hit the fan in full force. The marines went out to get us some fresh food instead of the crap that's in our base and they brought us a damn Raptor, which is a predator reptile which reminded everyone of a Velociraptor, so this is how everyone calls it. Better than the long Latin name the higher ups here named it. Anyway, the marines blew up the Raptor's head or at least we thought so. Apparently, this was how they found it. When we inspected it closer we saw that the head was cut off with a very sharp tool. It cleanly cut through all the muscle and spine, like butter. There was another clean stab wound on the chest, cutting straight to the heart._

_The freaky part came next. Sgt. Dyrdahl said that they heard a noise very close to them and when they checked it out they saw a freshly killed reptile waiting for them. By fresh, I mean just-a-few-seconds-ago fresh. How the hell do you not notice someone killing something just a few feet away from you? Goddamn._

_We're not alone here._

Damian reread the last part again. It would've sounded farfetched had they not lost Jimmy the same way. This journal was getting more interesting. Maybe who wrote this might shed some light into this mess. The next entry was incredibly short.

_September 13, 2562._

_At lunch I heard the spook talk about some place in Venator III, wherever it is. Sounds like a solar system's name. I left the place before he noticed I was eavesdropping his conversation. The marines start to remember that they found headless animals more than a few times already, only it seemed unimportant at that time._

Venator III. Damian searched through his memory but couldn't reference the name with anything he remembered. He filed it for later, deciding to ask Leone or Brass about it later. They were more versed about system and planet names than he was. He picked the next entry, ignoring the small conversation that broke out between the squadmates while Kyle looked over his shoulder to look at the datapad.

_October 6, 2562._

_Goddamn! I'm going to murder to Sean. And Jeffery too if he wasn't probably dead by now. I knew that I shouldn't have agreed to that dare. Fucking Sean, daring me to go out with the marines today. Sure, I'm supposed to be one of the wildlife experts here but I didn't want to go out when those things are out there! We were just talking about the things when Sean dared me to go out to find out what really was out there. For some stupid reason that I don't care to remember now I agreed, now I wish I didn't._

_I__ was __following __the __marines __around__ as __they __searched __for __something __to __shoot __when __Pvt. __Makravitz__ saw __something. __I __looked __at __the __spot __and __saw __it __too. __I've __never __seen __it __first__hand __but __I __know __how __an __active __camouflage __looks __like. __It __was __big __too. __Jeffery, __that __moronic __ape, __decided __for __some __reason __to __open__ fire __on __it. __The __thing __just __vanished __the __moment __the __idiot __started __firing __and __to __make __it __worse, __Jeffery __ran __after __it. __We __followed __Jeffery __but __several __seconds __later __he __just _vanished_. __He__ was __nowhere __in__ sight. __We've __seen __nothing __and __never __even __heard __a__ thing. __It __was __as__ if __Jeffery __simply __ceased __to __exist._

_The bloody spook is trying to calm everyone down but utterly fails. Marines don't just vanish._

Damian narrowed his eyes. This was entirely too familiar to him. "Sarge," he called the older man over. "this thing is getting interesting. They encountered the things who killed Jimmy," he told him shortly and to the point. He opened the next entry.

_October 8, 2562._

_Found Jeffery. The head is still MIA. Looks like his head was torn out with half of his spine. Gruesome sight, wish I didn't look. A frightening thought occurred to me. All the headless animals and now Jeffery. They collect heads._

_The spook knows something, I just know it. He hadn't even looked surprised at the news, just a bit perplexed. I get the feeling that he knows more-_

Damian tore his eyes away from the datapad. He would've read further had it not been the odd noise that echoed through the empty corridors into the room. It sounded like a loud hissing noise, not unlike a snake's but somewhat different. And definitely louder. Snakes, of any size, didn't hiss at a volume as loud as this hiss. However, this could simply mean that it was close to them. He swiftly placed the datapad into the storage compartment of his armor and readied his weapon.

Without any need to order or prompt them, everyone raised their weapons and aimed them at the door, expecting some monstrosity to burst in through the door to cut off their heads. However, nothing came at them. Not a sound was made and nothing moved. Brass took point and slowly moved out of the room, quickly pointing his battle rifle at both sides of the corridor. "Clear," he said quietly after a few seconds.

The rest of them followed him out, slowly and quietly moving through the corridor. Several steps later a vent cover falls to the floor right in front of Kyle with a loud clatter. He jumped back with a loud yelp, quickly aiming his gun at the now open ventilation shaft, quickly followed by the others. They stood there quietly for a few moments, not daring to move their aims from the opening in the ceiling. A loud clatter was heard several feet away from them, apparently from the ventilation shaft. As if something large moved inside. Their weapons were immediately aimed at that spot, expecting an attack. They waited but nothing came. Everything was silent.

"Sir?" Brass muttered.

"Yeah?"

"I don't like this. Not one bit," Brass said in a hissed whisper, visibly agitated. Damian was inclined to agree. This crap was starting to get to him.

Leone glanced into the visor of his squadmates before he nodded, mostly to himself. "I don't like the look of this too. Let's get what we came for and get the hell out of here. Mary?" Leone quietly told them and looked at Mary, who took out her personal datapad.

"Oh, this is good. The signal originates from the place we're heading to: the armory," she said, a hint of positiveness entering her voice. This seemed to cheer up the squad slightly. The sooner they will get their objective, the sooner they could leave this place behind them.

They set off at the same pace, the careful and silent crawling speed. Not that anyone minded. It was better to be careful than dead. Of course, so far they hadn't encountered anything that tried to kill them, which was rather rare for ODST's, but one could never be _too_ careful. Like a marine that Damian once knew said, 'You gotta watch where you go, or you just might step into some shit.'

Damian took that saying to heart. It made a lot of sense after all.

It took them a few minutes to reach the armory but thankfully they made it without any distractions, suspicious sounds or spontaneously dropping ventilation covers. Nothing that might make them even more nervous. They were thankful for that. Hopefully whatever was in the ventilation shaft didn't run off to bring reinforcements. Enemy reinforcements was always a bad thing. They finally stopped in front of the armory door, which was, unsurprisingly, locked. Mary immediately went to work on the electronic lock, requesting them to give her a minute. In the meanwhile they all stood guard around her, just in case something attacked. Just as Mary promised, she was done in a minute. She placed back her equipment and readied her weapon, giving a nod to Leone, who walked over to the lock. Everyone moved away from the path of the doorway and prepared themselves as Leone looked at them, wordlessly asking them if they were ready.

He received six nods in return and opened the door.

The door opened with a hiss and immediately the hallway was deafened by the booms of gunfire and the wall in front of the door was showered with bullets. The squad took a step back from the door, raising their weapons.

"Hold your fire! _Hold __your __fire,_ dammit!" Leone shouted over the unrelenting gunfire. Damian listened closely and was able to hear the shooter screaming his lungs out as he fired his weapon, which he deduced was an assault rifle from the amount of bullets that was fired. Three seconds later the bullets stopped coming and Damian could hear the heavy breathing coming from the room. "We're humans, hold your fire!" Leone repeated, now assured that he would be heard. He waved his hand in front of the open door, just to be safe, be fore he quickly retracted it. No shots were fired.

As one unit, they quickly poured into the room. Their weapons were immediately trained on a marine who was standing behind an overturned table which was used as cover. Damian studied the marine as they came closer. He stood at nearly two feet and had a large body build which made him a somewhat intimidating sight. He was of Hispanic descent, light-brown eyes, short black hair and a prominent scar running down from his left cheekbone to his jaw, creating a thin gap on his unshaven face. His eyes traveled to the name tag on the man's uniform, which read 'Ramirez' in large, bold letters. Damian was slightly taken aback from the overjoyed expression that came to the marine's face. His eyes were literally shining with the pure joy that he radiated.

"Drop the weapon!" Brass barked and the marine complied, somewhat happily, as his mouth slowly grew into a large, genuine smile. Brass kicked the weapon further away from the marine and ushered him away from the table, where he saw a shotgun and enough clips for both weapons to supply a platoon.

"Thank, fucking, god!" Ramirez exclaimed, as he looked at the Helljumpers happily. "I was starting to think I was alone on this goddamned planet!"

"You might have been right about it," Akura supplied as she looked over the armory. The armory was practically empty. Only a handful of weapons, beside the ones the marine used, remained in the room, however there was more than enough ammo for them to use. She was thankful for that. Several crates of food supplies were stacked in the corner of the room, most of which were already empty. She turned her gaze back to the marine before she continued, "we arrived yesterday."

Ramirez nodded enthusiastically, visibly not caring about the details. "Man, I'm glad to see you guys," he said, shaking his head, moving a hand through his dirty hair, which was starting to reach his shoulders.

"Do you know what happened here?" Damian asked.

Ramirez turned his gaze to the PFC and for a moment Damian saw the haunted look his eyes gained. "Hell yeah I know what happened here," he said tonelessly, with an empty voice. His eyes quickly regained their lively shine. "But first, more importantly, when do we get out of here?"

Damian exchanged glanced with the rest of the squad, wondering how he should break this to him. They had no way out of this planet. He felt quite bad about crushing the guy's hopes like that. The guy was ecstatic to see them and was probably waiting for rescue this whole time. He eventually decided to simply tell them man the truth. "Not anytime soon," he told him, "sorry," he added as an afterthought.

The marine looked at Damian blankly for several seconds before his features shifted into a murderous look. He stepped closer until he was standing almost nose to nose with the PFC. Ramirez was a head taller than him and he had to crane his head back a bit to look into the marine's eyes.

Damian suddenly found him to be much more intimidating that before.

"What the fuck was that supposed to mean?" Ramirez asked him in a quiet, murderous tone.

* * *

Many miles from Alpha base, at the bottom of a cliff overlooking the jungle, beneath broken branches and jungle foliage a body stirred.

* * *

**Hehehe, man, I have to admit that I love this chapter. It was quite fun to read it. Not much of Yautja in this chapter, other than this last bit, which is not much at all. It's a damn good chapter in my opinion. I also finally introduced Ramirez, who you can probably recall from the first chapter!**

**Things are bound to get interesting, I can promise you that. The next chapter will pick up from this point and you will finally get some answers...maybe.**

**Feel free to leave a lovely review! It makes me feel great to know that you read and enjoyed my story. Thank you for reading the story and special thanks to all those who reviewed my story and told me their opinions! I really appreciate it. I gladly and happily accept constructive criticism, suggestions, ideas and plain opinions, so dont be shy and feel free to speak your mind. Hell, you can even tell me my story sucks, as long as you explain why. Thanks again for reading and until next time, Delvaro out.**


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